By Gbenga Abulude (Politics & General Desk)
The Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) candidate, Hon Agboola Ajayi failed to attend the Ondo governorship debate, Wednesday, as Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mr Eyitayo Jegede of the People’s Democratic party (PDP) seized the moment to further make case for their candidacy just three days to the Saturday poll.
Ajayi, had on Sunday shunned a debate giving reason that the organisers would favour Governor Akeredolu since they were civil servants who were on his payroll.
Another debate organised by Channels TV, afforded him opportunity to speak on his plans if elected as Governor, but the Deputy Governor preferred to embark on his campaign tour to Owo, the hometown of Akeredolu.
In a statement signed by him, Ajayi said he would be campaigning in Owo on the day of the debate.
“While appreciating the opportunity it offered me to debate with other contenders for the office of governor of Ondo State, I have to let the offer slip by because I was otherwise engaged.
“l have had my campaign in Owo delayed by a day due to security concerns related to intolerance and violence. The scheduled event will hold all day on Wednesday while final interaction with my team from across the state would hold in the evening of that same day.
“This is so that I could avail myself of Thursday, October 8th, the last day allowed for campaigns, to embark on a whistle-stop tour of some locations across the State.
”I hope my decision to maximise the time available for me to continue to dialogue with voters across the state, a third of who are mostly not able to enjoy debates on national TV because they are not connected to the national grid, will not be seen as taking your offer for granted,” Ajayi said.
However the debate went ahead with the APC’s Governor Akeredolu and PDP’s candidate, Jegede honouring the event which held on Wednesday night.
The debate earlier scheduled for 7pm commenced by 7.30pm as the organisers waited for the PDP candidate to arrive.
The debate started with Akeredolu who was the first to arrive the venue in Akure.
Akeredolu shared his plans for Ondo state and what he had done to move the state forward.
He said the state needed a very composed and focused leadership and he spoke on what he will do
in the first 100 days if re-elected as Governor.
Akeredolu said he plans to leverage on existing efforts and offers robust internal revenue services.
The PDP candidate, Jegede who later arrived at the debate venue by 7.43pm, decried the increase in school fees by the state government and other challenges faced by the Ondo people.
Jegede asked: “Governor Would you be prepared to reduce tuition fees to what operated before you came in, at least for university students?”
Akeredolu responded, saying: “Well, it is something I believe this state can not do. I am not prepared to do it because we have responsibilities and those responsibilities were put on us by the government you served in, this state has no business having three universities at the same time. If you are allowing 25 thousand when you have two universities when you now have three it is a whole lot of responsibility and I believe quite strongly for that matter that we are chewing more than what we can bite or we are biting more than what we can chew and for me, it is for the good of these people, I mean good for our people that our student will go to the university and have a proper university education. We are giving them proper education and that’s why today Adekunle Ajasin that you are talking about is the best state university in Nigeria.”
Jegede spoke on his plans to increase government revenue without increasing taxes. He plans to improve Bitumen exploration through public-private partnerships if elected to office adding that cocoa production output had failed to improve in the state.
But Akeredolu averred insisting his administration had improved bitumen exploration in the whole of Nigeria that Jegede failed to give him credit for that but Jegede responded that it was all lies.
The governor insisted that the figures were out there to verify.
In the area of education, the PDP candidate disagreed with his APC counterpart, saying the hike in education fees, especially at the tertiary level should be condemned.
But Akeredolu justified the action of the government, saying government runs two universities and the intention was to provide good education.
The governor in his conversation directly asked his contestant, “Eyitayo, have you not seen the impact of good governance in Ondo?”
“Unfortunately, I have not seen, I will do more than you sir,” Jegede replied. At that point both candidates were left alone to engage one another without the moderator interfering.
At the end of the debate Akeredolu and Eyitayo exchange pleasantries.
