Ondo 2020: Why Agboola Ajayi Refused To Be My Running Mate — Jegede
Deji Adebayo, Akure
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming Ondo election, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, has cleared the air on news going round about his refusal to pick Akeredolu’s Deputy, Agboola Ajayi as his running mate.
Contrary to the speculations that he didn’t want Ondo State Deputy Governor, Hon Agboola Ajayi as his running mate, the Akure born politician and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 10 governorship election in Ondo State, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), has said, it was the D-Gov, Agboola Ajayi, who refused to be his running mate.
Jegede spoke for the first time on the issue on Tuesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, he said Ajayi could not have been his running mate because the his ambition was to become the governor.
Jegede said the deputy governor’s ambition is to be a governor under a political party noted that, that was the reason why Ajayi left the APC to PDP and later defected to ZLP after he lost at the primary of the PDP.
Recall that D-Gov, Ajayi had defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People Democratic Party (PDP) just about 6 weeks to the party’s primaries and contested the party’s primary after getting a waiver from the national secretariat but eventually lost to Jegede.
According to the PDP’s candidate, “Ajayi was part of the “failure” of the Akeredolu’s administration that PDP is campaigning against.”
The legal luminary said, “I took opinions from virtually everybody. People chose who becomes my running mate. When a choice is made we must respect it. One should not allow his ambition to override the choice of the people.
“All the policies that we are fighting, the pains we want to end are the product of Akeredolu and his deputy.’’
On the southwest security outfit, codenamed Amotekun, Jegede promised to strengthen the operations of Amotekun in the state if elected.
Jegede said, “Amotekun will stay without political influence. We must protect our people,’’ and he also assured the people of the state that he would reduce the tuition of state-owned tertiary institutions.
He, however, noted that “funding of the institutions won’t be an issue if I am elected.”