Governorship candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming gubernatorial contest in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) has vowed to protect the outcome of the contest, saying he is most confident that the people of the state would resist any moves by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to manipulate the governorship election process and results.
Eyitayo Jegede gave the warning while speaking on Crest FM in Akure, the Ondo State capital yesterday. According to him, those plotting to rig the polls for the incumbent governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), are well advised to stop at the boundary of the state.
It will be recalled that the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde who had also resigned from the Akeredolu administration in protest after the Deputy Governor, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, defected from the APC to the PDP, had alleged that the 2016 polls had equally been rigged in Akeredolu’s favour.
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After resigning his appointment a fortnight ago, Abegunde alleged that the APC and its power brokers rigged the 2016 governorship election for the incumbent governor against Eyitayo Jegede, the then candidate of the PDP.
Eyitayo Jegede, an erstwhile Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, also said the state “is not a conquered people or territory,” saying the masses of Ondo State would not allow a repeat of the 2016 experience.
During the radio programme, Eyitayo Jegede, drawing on the 2016 experience, warned that the masses of Ondo State “will no longer allow a repeat of the 2016 experience. Ondo State is not a conquered people or territory. If you are coming to the state to rig, stop at the boundary.
“This is because, our people have learned from that experience and are now on their toes, to resist any attempt by anybody to subvert their will.
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“I have known my brother, Abegunde for a long time. He said the truth when he said Akeredolu did not win the 2016 election and that it was rigged for him.”
Eyitayo Jegede also described as baseless, a smear campaign that he would pursue an ‘Akure agenda’, being a native of Akure, the state’s capital, if voted into power.
The PDP candidate said: “I am a native of Akure. I am not ashamed of it. But I can also be classified as a native of other communities in the state. I had gone round, visiting the riverside areas of Ilaje and Ese-Odo.
“I could feel what they were going through. From that area up to Ile-Oluji and Okeigbo, they do not have electricity at all; unlike Akure that has a little supply.
“So we are going to provide electricity in these areas and also build them hospitals as they lack medical facilities. Certainly, that cannot be an Akure agenda?”
Eyitayo Jegede urged the electorate in the state to cast aside party affiliations and vote in a responsive government, which could deliver democracy dividends.
According to him, what Ondo State needs at this period is an administration that can provide basic needs which the administration of Akeredolu has failed to produce in four years.
He said: “Our people are suffering. For instance, during my tour to the Ilaje area in 2016 to see how the people were faring, I found out that these people had problems of water, inadequate accommodation facilities, and that most of their areas are infested with mosquitoes, among others.’
