Aspirants rev up activities as Ondo APC guber primaries draw near

With the closure of collection of expression of interest forms today and the announcement last Wednesday, of a seven-member screening committee to determine the eligibility of individual aspirants, the contest for the ticket of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the Ondo State governorship election scheduled for August 22, is approaching a climax.

About 19 out of the almost 50 aspirants have officially signified their intention to be the APC flag bearer in the November 26 election that is expected to test the resolve of the party to bring the state under the influence of the major political order in the South West geo-political zone.

The governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi was named as the head of the screening committee which according to the party’s National Organising Secretary, Osita Izunaso, must ensure that all aspirants meet eligibility requirements provided in the 1999 Constitution (as amended), 2010 Electoral Act (as amended), the party’s Constitution as well as the party’s 2014 guidelines for nomination of candidates for public office.

Already activities within the camps of the various aspirants have revved up with rumour in the social media yesterday that two leading aspirants, former Speaker, Victor Olabintan and Olusegun Abraham have stepped down for the actualization of the ambition of fellow Akoko, Professor Ajayi Boroffice who is another leading aspirant.

The former Speaker’s spokesman, Ayo Ogedengbe, however declared in a text message that, “there is no truth in the story. It is those who are afraid of Olabintan as the preferred choice of both the PDP and APC that are spreading the rumour of his withdrawal. He is still very much in the race.”

And as contenders try to outwit each other in the preparations towards the contest, other stakeholders are working towards creating space for their involvement in the emerging scenario.

For instance, a group, Ondo South Youth Forum (OSYF), has called on the party’s leadership to ensure that the running mate of the candidate of the party is picked from the southern senatorial district.

According to the spokesman of OSYF, Wole Ebiwon, while speaking with The Guardian yesterday, “the southern senatorial district of Ondo State cannot afford to be marginalized once more especially as we move to another round of governance in the state.”

The southern district of Ondo State which comprises the six local councils of Ilaje, Ese-Odo, Okitipupa, Irele, Odigbo and Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo, is the economic nerve-centre of the state by virtue of its petroleum, bitumen and agro resources and the most volatile politically having the second largest concentration of voter population in the state.

Ebiwon, who said the group is a broad platform of card-carrying youth members of the APC, “our zone is too important in the socio-political and economic scheme of things in Ondo State to be excluded once again from top executive positions.”

He added: “it is almost certain that the APC will pick the governorship candidate from the northern senatorial district and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the central district, it will be a political suicide for the APC to look towards the central for the Deputy-Governor.

“Although the primary elections have not been held, we are insiders in the politics of Ondo State and we know where the gubernatorial pendulum of the two leading parties are swinging.

“We are also aware that some ambitious leaders from the central zone are already scheming for the number two slot in the APC on the ground that it would be enough strategy to water down whatever support the PDP might rely on in the area forgetting, and conveniently too, that the central may not buy into that.

“It is not that we are against anybody’s ambition but our position is that the party must take a decision that can add value to it and strengthen its chances in the coming elections. Any decision that will sideline the south in the November election will be counter-productive to our party, the APC.”

Ebiwon who also claimed that his group consists of young upwardly mobile politicians, who add value to the APC in the south, added, “excluding the south from the top two power equation will certainly spell doom for the party because we will not have any basis to call our people out to vote APC.

“Besides, everybody in this state, even across party platforms, knows the terrible neglect and backwardness that the current PDP administration subjected our people and area to and the APC must give us a sense of belonging to be able to earn our support.”