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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, has declared that he is ready to contest the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
Ibrahim spoke in Akure while declaring his ambition to contest the 2024 governorship election in Ondo State, on Thursday.
The APC governorship aspirant noted that the death of former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu would not affect his chances but would rather increase his chances of winning the primary and the main election.
“Maybe the death of Aketi has enhanced my chances because Aketi is a human being, he can be subjectively objective at the last minute. But now that he is no more, that possibility is written off completely. So whoever is there, wants to run for governor will meet me at the field.
“So Aketi’s death doesn’t affect my chances at all, but it would rather enhance my chances to win the governorship position of this state. So we are working seriously to win this election,” he said.
Ibrahim also expressed optimism that there would be no imposition of a candidate from the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the presidency, adding that President Bola Tinubu will allow a free and fair primary election.
“I’m declaring my intention to run for the governorship election of Ondo State. Among the contestants, I am the oldest. I have contested election twice in my lifetime, one of which I contested for governorship position in 2003, and none of these contestants was on that ballot.
“The President will never say that we should go and work for the incumbent governor. He can only appeal that maybe he prefers one person if you can prefer him and if you cannot, go and do your election. So the President cannot say that I have taken this person so all of you should go and sit down. Even Buhari who is very clueless about anything can never do that,” he said.
He noted that economy and security were part of his cardinal programmes for the state, saying there was a need to empower the Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun, with modern technology to enable it to combat criminals effectively.
“My programmes are very straightforward, we are to create moral efficiency and moral knowledge and make the body more efficient. We must also map Ondo State borders for a security network and then ensure that we will never have any cases of kidnapping, by making Amotekun a classic unique security outfit that will come with a good strategy to challenge any security issues in our state.
“So one of the areas we are looking at is to ensure that everybody in Ondo State can go to sleep with their eyes closed and that’s topmost of our priority. Mapping every systems, the tactical operations of Amotekun have to come more distinct into technology, I want an Amotekun that is Information Technology informed because I have PhD in war, ” he stressed.
As the primary of the political parties in the state is drawing nearer, many aspirants have shown their interest in the contesting the APC ticket.
Aside Ibrahim, other aspirants include the incumbent governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa; former Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa; former Member of the House of Representatives, Mr Mayowa Akinfolarin; former Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Oladunni Odu, former governorship aspirant of the APC, Chief Olusola Oke; Dr Paul Akintelure, Brig-Gen Olamide Ohunyeye (rtd) among others.