Ondo Poll: APC group backs SDP candidate, rejects Aiyedatiwa

Ahead of the upcoming Ondo State governorship election, a group within the All Progressives Congress in the state has thrown its weight behind Benson Akingboye of the Social Democratic Party, rejecting the party’s candidate, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

The group criticised Aiyedatiwa’s emergence as the party’s flag-bearer, citing concerns over alleged irregularities and their disenchantment with the leadership’s handling of the primaries.

This was revealed in a petition written to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, and made available to journalists in Abuja on Saturday.

This comes barely a week before the Ondo governorship poll.

Aiyedatiwa was declared the winner by Governor Usman Ododo-led Primary Election Committee following a poll conducted in all 18 local government areas of the state.

However, the result was contested over allegations of irregularities and violence in some polling units.

Consequently, the senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, Jimoh Ibrahim, and five other aspirants filed petitions challenging Aiyedatiwa’s victory.

The other aspirants were Olusola Oke, Folakemi Omogoroye, Olugbenga Edema, Jimi Odimayo, and Wale Akinterinwa.

In response, the APC national chairman summoned all the aspirants to the party secretariat in Abuja and urged them to bury the hatchet and work with Aiyedatiwa.

Trouble flared again in the APC camp on Saturday with the declaration of this APC group.

In a fresh petition signed by the Coordinator of Ondo Patriots, Dele Oyewo, the party leaders vowed to shun Aiyedatiwa and support the Social Democratic Party candidate, Otunba Benson Akingboye.

The letter partly read: “Following the position our dear party in Abuja has taken, supporting Governor Aiyedatiwa’s questionable emergence at the shadow primaries conducted in April 2024, the leadership of our various organising groups within the party structure hereby reiterates that it will be almost impossible to work with the governor in the November 16 gubernatorial election.

“This is not unconnected to the fact that our kindness and loyalty have repeatedly been taken for granted, not only in Ondo state but across the country. We also discovered that the party leadership in Abuja is not in any way concerned about the well-being of the citizens of Ondo State.

“Rather, they prefer their own choice of settlement over any resulting consequences. The voices of Ondo APC hereby condemn what it describes as gross misconduct against party ethics in the choice of Aiyedatiwa, if we are truly different from the PDP and what we preached before the 2015 general elections.

“Having reviewed the credentials of all the major contenders for the forthcoming governorship election in our state, we, the major APC groups in Ondo, have decided to support Otunba Benson Akingboye of the Social Democratic Party as our choice. We cannot continue to suffer in silence.”

Efforts to reach the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, for a response were unsuccessful.

As of the time of filing this report, Morka had neither returned the calls nor replied to the messages sent for clarification.