Mr. Olaniran Olanusi, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo state, describes the executive governor of the state as the best among his counterparts in the election primaries of Ondo APC.
Olanusi said, come April 2024, Aiyedatiwa would have no challenge whatsoever in emerging as the APC governorship candidate at the party’s primary election.
In swift reaction to the purported statement, a group of supporters of the former commissioner for finance, Mr. Wale Akinterinwa, an aspirant also under the state APC dismissed the claim of Olanusi, while emphasizing that Akinterinwa is the man to go up against.
The governorship primaries is to take place April 16th, 2024, while the main election wilk hold in November as fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
During a dialogue with reporters from Supare Akoko, Akoko West Local Government Area of the state on Sunday, Olanusi said no candidate stands a chance against Aiyedatiwa.
He said, “It is Lucky Aiyedatiwa against the rest; they only ganged up against the best candidate, against the best hand and let the fact be stated, I don’t see them (aspirants ) emerging. I don’t see any one of them as a threat or posing a threat to Aiyedatiwa’s aspiration. I feel no aspirant is a threat.
“Aiyedatiwa is a moving train; you can see the rate at which people are joining his camp. In the little time he has spent in office, he has been able to endear himself to the people through his promises and his pragmatic approach to issues.
“These things are evidence and we can all see it. It’s obvious, we can attest to it that the governor is at work, Aiyedatiwa is working and people are getting happier.”
“The APC is a party of true democrats. I don’t see myself advising the national chairman because everywhere we have primaries, it has always been a level plain field; there have always been fairness, justice and equity in our party. So that is what I believe will play out in Ondo State while electing the candidate of the party,” Olanusi stated.
Reacting, the spokesperson for the Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Organisation, Mr Segun Ajiboye, said, “Anybody saying that Aiyedatiwa is the best of all the aspirants is either a sycophant or desperate political jobbers seeking undue attention from Governor Aiyedatiwa.
“I will say he (Aiyedatiwa) is the least of the aspirants because in the history of the state, this is the first time a governor will be having controversy over an academic certificate since 1979 that we have been having executive governors.
“From Chief Adekunle Ajasin to Arakunrin Akeredolu, we haven’t heard that before. How could such a person be the best aspirant? So anybody saying he is the best of all the aspirants is a sycophant probably seeking certain benefits from Aiyedatiwa.”
