• Your allegation false, focus on issue-based campaign, APC tells PDP’s candidate
• SDP deputy governorship candidate defects to APC
• 2025 budget will address people’s critical needs, says Aiyedatiwa
• Don’t conduct Edo-like election in Ondo, stakeholders tell REC
• INEC promises to meet over Ondo REC as protest continues
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming November 16 governorship election in Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, has raised the alarm that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has concluded a plan to deploy operatives of the state-owned security network agency, also known as Amotekun Corps, for the election in the state.
He said that the purported appointment of the Commander of Amotekun Corps, Adetunji Adeleye, as Chairman of the Security Committee of the APC Campaign Council, was a plot to deploy the operatives as thugs during the poll.
In a statement by its Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, Ajayi, while describing the appointment of Adeleye as an abuse of power, said that the development has consequences.
Meanwhile, the ruling party has described the allegations of the PDP’s governorship candidate as false, emphasising that the Amotekun Commander was never appointed to any of the committees of the party’s campaign council.
The APC, in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Steve Otaloro, described the allegations as grave.
However, the deputy governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Susan Alabi, has defected to the APC ahead of the election in the state.
Alabi, who was received into the ruling APC fold during the campaign tour of Akoko North West Local Council of the state by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the Chairman of the party in the state, Ade Adetimehin, had a few weeks ago resigned her membership in the SDP.
She stepped down as the running mate to the governorship candidate of the party, Bamidele Akingboye.
Meanwhile, Aiyedatiwa, who is the standard-bearer of the party, said during the campaign that the 2025 budget of his administration would be meticulously structured to capture the developmental needs of every part of the state.
In another development, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have urged the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Oluwatoyin Babalola, not to allow a repeat of the shortcomings of the process in Edo State.
They stated this in Abuja during the Situation Room dialogue session with the Ondo State REC and the police ahead of the 2024 governorship election in the state, supported by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The Situation Room Convener, Y.Z. Ya’u, noted that the gathering was convened to allow observers to identify areas of weakness, and challenges and draw the attention of relevant agencies so that remediation could take place.
Ya’u, who advised the Ondo State REC to conduct an election that would redefine the electioneering process of the country, said that citizens were not happy with the conduct of the Edo State governorship election, which he insisted, fell short of what should be considered to be threshold of free credible elections.
In her response, Babalola said that the commission was fully aware of its duty of conducting a free and fair election in the state and had put proactive measures in place to actualise this.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, said it would convene an emergency meeting to address the growing controversy surrounding the REC, Oluwatoyin Babalola.
INEC Acting Director of Security, Ndidi Okafor, stated this when some protesters, under the auspices of Ondo Youth League, Action for Credible and Transparent Election stormed the commission’s headquarters in Abuja to demand a response to the petition they submitted on Monday demanding the redeployment of Babalola.
