Ondo Poll: Fayose, Governors, others shun Ondo PDP campaign flag off

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest Zone is deepened as the immediate past Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship candidate in Osun State 2018 election, Senator Ademola Adeleke and other notable PDP leaders in the Southwest zone were conspicuously absent at the flag off of the party’s campaign in Akure, Ondo State on Saturday.

Newsflash247 gathered that Fayose and others were not carried along in the runnings of the campaign by Governor Seyi Makinde, which accounted for their absence.

The Governor was said to have single-handedly constituted the campaign council, placing Fayose as member of the Mobilisation Sub-Committee.

Apart from Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tambuwal and Makinde, other PDP governors stayed away from the campaign.

Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde led other high-powered party representatives to kick-start the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship election in Ondo state on Saturday.

The PDP’s candidate for the election, scheduled to hold on October 10, is Eyitayo Jegede.

Supporters thronged out in their numbers to the MKO Abiola Democracy Park in Akure where the rally was held.

Also speaking, immediate past State Chairman of PDP, Mr. Clement Faboyede and a former Commissioner for Environment, Chief Sola Ebiseni lamented that education and health sectors in Ondo state had collapsed, hence the agitation for the election of Mr. Eyitayo Jegede.

In an interview with Radio Nigeria, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan said the massive number of the people of Ondo state who attended the campaign flag-off, showed that the people want power to return to the PDP in the state in the October 10 polls.

The Executive Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, was also present at the rally to stand in solidarity with Jegede, as well as PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, who presented the party’s flag to Jegede.

Other dignitaries present at the PDP flag-off included the Senator representing Ekiti South, Abiodun Olujimi, and the PDP State Chairman, Fatai Adams.

Representing Vice President Atiku Abubakar at the flag off was Segun Sowunmi.

“They (APC) said you should vote them because they want Presidency to come to Yoruba land,” Makinde said during his speech, which was, as much of the rally, punctuated by short bursts of political music.

“This election is not about the presidency to Yoruba land. This election is about delivering Eyitayo Jegede and putting Ondo state as part of the states that will lead the charge to restructure Nigeria.”

Makinde, who is also the party’s Campaign Council chairman for the election, drew a comparison between his election in Oyo and the impending Ondo version.

Makinde won the Oyo elections in 2019 despite contesting under the PDP, which didn’t hold political sway in the state at the time, or at the federal level.

“We have people, and we have God,” he said. “In Ondo State, you have God and you have people. It happened in Oyo state, it will happen here.”

In his remarks, Tambuwal said the APC, the current ruling party in Ondo, was in disarray up to the national. “APC is not a choice for Ondo state,” he said.

Jegede will battle with incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of the APC and others in the October 10 election.

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