Some of the aspirants for the ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State have knocked the state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, for declaring there is no vacancy at the state government house, Akure.
Fielding questions from newsmen at the APC national secretariat on Friday in Abuja, shortly after his screening ahead of the party’s primary election slated for April 20, Aiyedatiwa had said there was no vacancy for the office of governor in Ondo State, stressing that he was the best man for the job.
The governor, who said his WAEC certificate was not forged, also asked those he described as mischief makers to repent.
He said, “I will just advise them to repent and try to go to the field and work. They are interested in the seat, and the seat is not vacant, that is why they are trying to do all that they are doing.
“You see, we are all indigenes of Ondo State and we are all qualified to run to be the governor of Ondo State, but there is a sitting governor. I have the structures; the people and the competence.”
But reacting after his screening, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim said, “The governor is a huge joker; he is joking. It’s a big joke. He is out of that place. At the end of the primary, he will be gone. What is the governor talking about? He has never won an election.”
Similarly, Chief Olusola Oke, another aspirant said the governor’s statement was a ploy to undermine the democratic process.
He said, “It’s a statement of wish and desire by the governor, and it’s a statement that is intended to undermine a democratic exercise. If we are going to the primary and the people will have to determine, how would anybody have the guts to say there is no vacancy?
“There is no vacancy between now and February next year, no doubt, but after February, his one-year term will be exhausted and then there will be a vacancy.”
Another aspirant, Dr Olusoji Ehinlanwo, also said Aiyedatiwa is not a threat to his ambition.
