The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming off-cycle gubernatorial election in Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, has said that the appointment of the 344 Senior Special Assistants (SSAs) and Special Assistants (SAs) was a strategy to manipulate the poll.

Ajayi, while emphasising that the appointments bore the semblance of ward canvassers for the All Progressives Congress (APC), said that the trick would not work in the state come November 16.

The PDP’s candidate, in a statement by his Campaign Organisation’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, described the move as criminal, stating that the aides were appointed with no stipulated duties or responsibilities.

Ajayi added that the huge remuneration of money expected to be expended on the newly appointed aides would amount to sheer wastage of the state’s resources amid the economic downturn and hardship in the land.

Also, Olugbenga Edema Campaign Organisation of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the forthcoming off-cycle governorship election in the state slammed the governor over the appointments. Edema described the move as “insensitive” and “misguided,” particularly given the current economic challenges facing the people of the state.

Spokesperson of the campaign organisation, Oluwatosin Ayeni, in a statement, at the weekend, stressed that the timing of the appointments, coming just three months before the forthcoming elections, calls for concern.

According to Edema, the governor’s actions were a strategy to secure political loyalty rather than genuinely addressing the needs of the people, emphasising that the financial implications of such appointments, funded by the state’s coffers, are troubling in light of the prevailing economic hardship.

Meanwhile, the National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mary Idele Alile, has hailed Aiyedatiwa over his commitment to advancing and promoting women’s empowerment and inclusion in governance.

Alile, who commended the governor for creating political opportunities for women, noted the significant increase in female participation in governance under his leadership.

IN another development, the wife of the late governor Rotimi Akeredolu, Dr Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, has empowered 70 girls with laptops and home solar systems in Ibadan.

Anyanwu-Akeredolu charged the girls to make positive impacts in the world and among people around them. She said that there was a connection between Gender Based Violence (GBV) and poverty, stressing the need for girls to be empowered so they could be financially independent.

The wife of the late governor said women should be concerned and work towards eliminating feminised poverty that breeds violence at home and on the streets. She reiterated the importance of aligning with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by UN member-states in 2015, a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.