• Group warns against non-indigenous candidates in Ondo South
• Says move could trigger tension, cites electoral risk

The former Chief Press Secretary to the late Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Richard Olatunde, has taken a swipe at the Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Special Duties and Strategy, Gani Ajowa Mohammed, over a purported attempt to blackmail the previous administration through “deliberate” misrepresentation of facts regarding pensioners’ welfare.

In a statement yesterday, Olatunde, while berating Mohammed over what he described as a calculated effort to smear the legacy of the late Akeredolu, despite serving in the same government, accused him of deploying blackmail as a tool for political survival.

According to Olatunde, as of 2021, the Akeredolu administration had already disbursed N6 billion toward clearing the backlog of gratuity arrears inherited from the previous government.

Meanwhile, a group, under the aegis of Ondo Concerned Citizens, has raised the alarm over the potential emergence of what it described as non-indigenous candidates for the Ondo South Senatorial District seat ahead of the 2027 election.

The group, while stressing that such a move could trigger tensions within the district, said that allowing candidates without ancestral ties to Yorubaland to contest for the seat would constitute a political miscalculation, particularly for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the senatorial district.

The group gave the warning following the appointment of Senator Jimoh Ibrahim as an ambassador to the United Nations, with the seat becoming vacant.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Victor Olorundare and Secretary, Ibukun Owolabi, the group said that the district, being an integral part of Yorubaland, deserves a representative who is culturally grounded and linguistically fluent in the traditions of the people.

It, therefore, urged stakeholders to ensure that only a round peg is placed in a round hole and that the best among the district’s indigenous population is entrusted with the senatorial responsibility.