Oke dismisses APC’s alleged reliance on FG to win polls

The governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Mr. Olusola Oke, has dismissed the reports credited to the All Progressives Congress (APC) that it would use federal might to win the election.

The Director General of his campaign organisation, Mr. Bola Ilori, said in a statement in Akure that the power to win election depends on the voters.

He added that the era of using the federal authourity to suppress the people’s choice was over because the level of awareness had grown over the years.

According to Ilori, the AD has become the voters’ first choice, adding, “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which controlled 25 states at a time now has 12 states under its control,” stating that Ondo is also gradually slipping off its hands.”

He alleged that the APC’s governorship candidate, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, was a product of controversial primaries, which could be described as a rejection by the electorate.

“No amount of branding or advertorial could sell a bad product. The alleged subversion that manifested at the APC’s primaries had shown that all was not well with the party.

“The people of the southwest, had, from time immemorial, had the history of contesting against the federal might and had always won,” he said.

He cited the political tussle between the late Obafemi Awolowo and the northern aristocrats in the days of Action Group (AG), where he triumphed over the then Northern Peoples Congress (NPC).

Ilori said: “The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) had a similar victory in the region over the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979. Also, the AD defeated the PDP in 1999, a deed that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) repeated against the PDP, before joining the legacy parties to form the APC.”