Ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State, the embattled deputy governor of the state and the candidate of Zenith Labour Party(ZLP), Hon Agboola Ajayi, on Thursday, denied alliance with the People Democratic Party(PDP) and its candidate Mr Eyitayo Jegede in the election.
Agboola who made this clarification In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS) Mr Babatope Okeowo, said there was no iota of truth in the news, saying it was designed to discourage his teeming supporters.
Agboola specifically alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the author of the publication, saying the development was coming out some 24 hours after the state government prevented him from using the state facility for his flag-off campaign.
Agboola said the camp of the APC and Akeredolu has been jittery over his rising profile and support towards his aspiration to rescue the state from the misrule of Akeredolu’s government in the state.
The statement stated that “this publication like the previous one from the same author is not only fake but planted by the information machinery of the outgoing governor of Ondo State, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to discourage the teeming supporters of the Deputy Governor.
“That said publication was coming barely 24 hours after the State Government prevented the Deputy Governor the use of government facility for the launch of his campaign showed their sinister motives.
“Let it be known to the members of the public that there is no romance between the candidate of ZLP and that of PDP after the governorship primary that produced Eyitayo Jegede as the candidate of PDP.
“There was no offer and rejection of running mate from the PDP leadership or Jegede to Ajayi as insinuated by the fake publication.
“The said publication has failed to prove any nexus between the two candidates and tried unsuccessfully also to impugn the character of the Deputy Governor.
“We say emphatically that the Deputy Governor is winning the forthcoming governorship election slated for October 10, and he is willing to welcome candidates or other political parties who may wish to support his aspiration to rescue the state from the misrule of Akeredolu’s government.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state has also emphasised that the party was not in any political alliance with any political party in the state ahead of the forthcoming governorship election.
The Chairman of the party in the state, Mr Dele Ogunbameru, who made this disclosure after a meeting with the leaders of the party across the state denied the report that SDP was in alliance with a political party.
Ogunbameru maintained that the party will be fielding and supporting its governorship candidate, Peter Fashua and his running mate, Mrs Racheal Ajayi, as the party flag bearer in the governorship election.
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He maintained that SDP will not go into any alliance with either the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or any other political parties in the elections.
He said: “I want to reiterate this and sound it clear for everyone that we remain loyal members of the SDP and we have only one candidate for the Ondo governorship election in the person of Peter Fashua.
“At no time did we enter into an alliance with any candidate or form any alliance with any other political party.
“There are rumours that the SDP has collapsed its structure to another party and collaborating with another candidate in the forthcoming governorship election.
“This is not true but we want to tell the world that the SDP has a candidate in the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State.
“The party is contesting in the election and come rain, or shine, we are mobilising for our party, we are not working or collaborating with another party.
“The name of our candidate is Peter Fashua while the running mate is Mrs Racheal Ajayi. We want the public to disregard the rumour that we are working for a particular party.
“We are not collaborating with APC or collapsing our structure for PDP or ZLP. We cannot collapse our structure with any other party and why should we collapse our structure with any other party, when we remain a party to beat in any election.
“Judging from the last local government election results where we came second. We are a threat to the ruling APC government in the state, this is due to the rising popularity and strength of the party in the state
Tasking members of the party to move their campaigns to their wards and units, in order to ensure victory for the party, he said “we are seriously preparing and mobilising across the 18 local government areas in the state and we are fully prepared for the election. We have commenced our campaign.”
He denied the party losing some of its members to other parties but said “those leaving our party are not a bonafide member of SDP. Those who claimed to leave the party are those who joined before the local government election to use our platform for the election but they leave immediately after losing the election, they are not registered members of SDP.”
Ogunbameru who vowed to mobilise the people of the state to resist rigging and defend their votes in October 10 governorship election, said “SDP is ready to block any alleged plots by the ruling APC to rig the October 10 governorship election.
“It will be difficult for this election to be rigged except other parties are sleeping we cannot sleep at the same time.
“The security agents should do their job to ensure that thuggery and violence is not allowed, while Money politics should be discouraged too.”
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