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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Ondo State, the elders of the party, also known as Ondo APC Aborigines, have declared their support for the state governor, Mr Lucky Aiywdatiwa.
The elders, who decided to back Aiyedatiwa at their meeting held in Akure, the state capital on Tuesday, said the governor scored the highest points out of the three aspirants shortlisted by the group.
The other two frontline aspirants picked are the late Dr Paul Akintelure and a former Commissioner for Finance in the state, Mr Wale Akinterinwa.
Recall that the elders had penned down Aiyedatiwa, Akintelure and Akinterinwa for screening and endorsement ahead of the party’s primary.
The group had also warned the party against picking a “stranger” as the candidate of the party.
Addressing newsmen after Tuesday’s meeting, the chairman of the group and former Ambassador to Togo, Sola Iji, said the they took the decision following the recommendations of the committee set up to assess all the governorship aspirants and pick the best out of them.
According to Iji, the group insisted that the candidate must be a loyal party man who would respect and take care of the welfare of the members.
“We resolved in our first meeting to commit ourselves to a unanimous goal in the forthcoming governorship primary of APC in the state. We consider this as a necessary step towards asserting our true worth in the party.
“Nevertheless, during our second meeting, we unanimously agreed to set up a nine-man committee headed by Mrs Christy Olufowose to identify the various aspirants jostling for the ticket of our party; assess them using some well-thought-out criteria and present three of them for further consideration by the leadership of the group.
“At our last meeting, the committee submitted their report wherein Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Wale Akinterinwa and Dr Paul Akintelure were recommended.
“Furthermore, the group mandated its leadership to have further consultation and deliberations in arriving at the choice of our preferred aspirant. Consequently, the leadership of the group met, reviewed the report of the committee and considered the three recommended aspirants qualified and worthy.
“However, in contriving the choice of our preferred aspirant, the leaders believed that it is normal and conventional to offer a right of first refusal to His Excellency, Lucky Aiyedatiwa as a sitting governor,” he said.
Iji added that part of the reasons the group declared support for Aiyedatiwa was because of his conduct and performance in less than 100 days in office as the governor of the state.
“On the whole, having been satisfied with the conduct and performance of His Excellency, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, we are pleased to inform the general public that he is our preferred aspirant in the forthcoming governorship primary of APC in Ondo State.
“By this decision, we are determined to deploy our numerical strength and resources to ensure the victory of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa at the primary. It is our fervent belief that Governor Aiyedatiwa’s candidature will position our party for a resounding victory at the general election and engender good governance in the state,” he stressed.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had fixed April for the governorship primaries of all political parties, while the governorship election was scheduled for November 16.
The Ondo APC has scheduled April 20 for its primary while the national secretariat of the party has set up a nine-man committee to conduct the exercise.