SPECULATIONS were rife at the weekend that the deputy governor of Ondo State, Honourable Agboola Ajayi, may resign from his office this week, amidst rising intrigues ahead party primaries.
Ajayi is believed to have concluded plans to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to allow him participate in the primary election of the PDP.
The deputy governor, according to one of the top aspirants in the opposition party,is believed to have obtained the nomination form of the PDP to enable him contest in the party’s primary.
The aspirant said intense pressure on most of the other contenders to drop their ambition was responsible for the lukewarm attitude of some PDP aspirants in paying for nomination and expression of interest forms.
According to multiples sources in the party, the latest permutation is to field the deputy governor as running mate of the candidate of the PDP in 2016, Eyitayo Jegede.
But all the aspirants reportedly resisted the option, despite the initial belief that Ajayi had the necessary structure to win the election for the PDP.
There were speculations that he had agreed to run alongside Jegede, as running mate, but it was said to have triggered resistance from those who consider themselves as original members of the PDP.
The source said: “We are waiting for them as all their plans to pair Jegede and Agboola Ajayi is already on the card.Don’t forget that we all resisted the initial plan of the national leadership to give the deputy governor an automatic ticket.
“From what we are getting now, the same elements, who are bent on controlling our party from outside, want to bring Agboola on board at all cost. The question is: what is the reason for this desperation by Agboola. Here is a man who wanted to be governor and that ambition made him to fall apart with Akeredolu.
“Are they saying those of us who have built the PDP since inception are fools? The man went to APC and worked against us, which led to our failure in 2016; how are we sure that there won’t be crisis as a result of his ambition after the election?
“What has suddenly happened to the hyped slogan of Ondo South for Governor, which was the driving force for some southern gladiators to join him in the defection plan from APC?”
But the chief press secretary to Ajayi, Mr Babatope Okeowo, said denied any plan by his principal resign from the APC this week, because, according to him, Ajayi does not need to resign as deputy to contest the governorship election.
Okeowo added that his boss could contest whether in the PDP or the APC without resigning from office.
The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo had also denied any friction between the governor and his deputy.
According to Ojogo: “I don’t know if there is a cold war. If at all there is, it is not abnormal in politics; it is not unusual in politics. And as far as governance is not affected adversely, those of us who are working under them have not seen the reason to believe that there is a cold war. We do not believe that there is any cold war, we don’t think so.”
Asked if the deputy governor planned to join the PDP, Ojogo said: “I lack the competence to answer that question. I’m not in his mind, I’m not in his heart, I’m in APC and I do not think I would want to subscribe to rumours that he is going to PDP.
“If actually, you have also considered them rumours, why don’t you wait and see that he has actually moved to PDP before we confirm that these things are real. I do not want to believe in those rumours but I also hear them as rumours. I don’t want to believe that it is true. Even if it is true, it is not within my competence to either confirm or deny.”
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING
Edo: APC Weighs Options, Fears PDP Takeover •Governors stick with Obaseki, Odubu adamant
Two weeks to the much-anticipated primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, national party chieftains are worried the ruling party in the state may end up gifting the governorship… Read full story
COVID-19: AfDB Approves $288.5m For Nigeria
The Board of Directors, African Development Bank (AfDB), on Friday, approved a $288.5 million loan to help Nigeria tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate its impact on people and businesses. In the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 79 per cent of the households in the country… Read full story
Why We Did Not Treat Raped Sales Girl —LUTH
The management of the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has denied not treating on purpose an 18-year-old salesgirl, who was on Thursday raped by a dispatch rider. A twitter user @youdiee, who claimed to be the owner of the store where the rape incident took place had accused the hospital of neglecting the victim… Read full story
Surrender Or Be Disgraced, Buhari Tells Katsina Bandits
President Muhammadu Buhari has met with Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State over the rising wave of banditry in the state and advised criminals to surrender now or face a “disgraceful and violent end.” According to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) in… Read full story
Edo, Ondo Primaries: APC Ready With Membership Registers —Isa-Onilu
National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lanre Isa-Onilu, has disclosed that the membership registers of the party for Edo and Ondo states are intact and current. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had told political parties wishing to conduct direct primaries in the… Read full story
COVID-19: Ondo Threatens Another Lockdown
Ondo State government on Friday threatened to reverse the decision to lift the ban on lockdown in the state should the number of COVID-19 cases keep on increasing. Tribune Online report that the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, on Special duties and Strategies, Dr Doyin Odebowale, gave this… Read full story
The New Normal: What COVID-19 Has Changed In Our Lives
SINCE the prevalence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic compelled government at all levels in the country to shut down schools on March 23, being one of the containment mechanisms employed by advanced nations with worse incidence rate of the virus, Adeola Adeyemi and her siblings, like others in Nigeria… Read full story
Four Men Who Raped 13 Year Old Girl To Be Arraigned This Week
The four men who allegedly gang-raped a 13-year-old minor in Kaduna would be arraigned before a competent court of law this week. A reliable source at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development told Sunday Tribune that the Central Investigation Department (CID) had concluded its findings… Read full story
My Father Was Close To Making Me A Carpenter’s Apprentice —Bode George
I am the real special model from my background. My great-grandfather was a reverend gentleman. He had a white horse and was born in Lagos and became a reverend. He was evangelising around Nupe area in present-day Niger State where there were Christians; then, he married a Nupe woman… Read full story
Nigerian Should Always Do Fact-Check On Politicians —Sani
Anthony Sani, the immediate-past Secretary-General and former Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), now a member of the Governing Council of Sir Ahmadu Memorial Foundation and of Northern Media Forum, speaks on 21 years of civil rule in the country and other issues … Read full story
I Still Have So Much To Offer – Ronke Oshodi-Oke
Ronke Oshodi-Oke is a household name, especially in the Yoruba movie industry having graced the screens for decades. The veteran actress, who is undergoing a rebranding process shares some of her plans on movie and music… Read full story
Majek Fashek And The Curse Of Drug Addiction
THE death of Nigerian singer-songwriter, guitarist and reggae music lord, Majek Fashek, in New York, America, last week threw Nigerians into a nostalgic mood. It brought into memory the exact picture of a musical icon who the country lost to the icy pincers of death. Reports of his passage sauced his strides on the dancehall… Read full story
Why Governors Are Jittery Of Financial Autonomy To State Legislature —Kaze
The autonomy of the judiciary and legislature is very important, I am proud of the 6th and 7th National Assembly because at a point in time the National Assembly both the Senate and House of Representatives actually voted for the financial autonomy of the state legislature but that bill failed at the state level because… Read full story
and then