By Gbenga Abulude (Politics & General Desk)
Ondo Governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Deputy Governor, Hon. Agboola Ajayi has said the reason why he shunned the Ondo State governorship debate held on Sunday was because he has no confidence in the organisers of the debate.
Ajayi who noted that the media organisations in charge of the debate program were sympathetic to the Governor because he pays their bills, said the debate would not have been be neutral in fielding questions to him and other candidates.
Recall that only the ZLP candidate was absent at the governorship debate held at the International Event Centre in Akure.
Read also: Ondo 2020: Deputy Gov, Ajayi Picks Mimiko’s Man As Running Mate
According to the moderator, Mr Akinwumi Abodunde, four aspirants from the All Progressives Congress (APC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and ZLP parties were invited for the debate and none of the candidates showed any sign that he would not attend as at one hour to the programme.
The New Dipomat had reported that only two candidates of APC and SDP, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Mr Peter Fasua respectively were present at the scheduled time of the debate.
Mr Eyitayo Jegede of the PDP arrived an hour behind the scheduled time.
The ZLP candidate who spoke through his media aide, Mr.Tope Okeowo said, “We don’t have confidence in the organisers and they are not likely to be fair to our candidate.
“If the deputy governor attended there would be trouble because the organisers are those earning money from the state government,” Mr Okeowo said.
“You can see how the moderator favoured the governor in the distribution of the questions.”
Read also: Ondo 2020: Again, Ambitious Deputy Gov, Ajayi Dumps PDP
The deputy governor, Hon Agboola Ajayi and his boss, Governor Akeredolu who are vying under ZLP and APC parties respectively have been on a war of words for the larger part of their campaign tours.
Ajayi decamped from the APC to the ZLP in order to realize his governorship ambition.
The Ondo governorship election is slated for this Saturday, October 10.
