…seeks Ganduje support to retain Aiyedatiwa position
By Joy Odor
Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olamide Oladiji, on Monday led 13 other members to the the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) to seek the National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje support to retain the State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa ahead of the April 25 governorship primary election.
This is even as the Ondo State House of Assembly members also passed a vote of confidence on Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Oladiji affirmed that their visit are to appreciate the APC Chairman and President Tinubu quick intervention into the political crisis that erupted in Ondo States a few months ago to peaceful resolution and also to appreciate him for making himself physically present in the burial ceremony of late governor, His Excellency Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu.
The Speaker who stated this in Abuja informed Ganduje that their visit is for the continuity of an APC-led government in Ondo State and give 100 per cent assurance that the primary elections will be peaceful.
“I want to say good afternoon to everyone here present. My name is Rt Hon. Olamide Oladiji. I’m the Speaker of the House of Assembly. Our visit to the party secretariat here is very simple. We are here to appreciate our leader, the chairman, the national chairman of the largest party in Africa, HE Alhaji Umar Ganduje.
“We are here to appreciate him for his quick intervention into the political crisis that erupted Ondo States a few months ago. And and that quick intervention and that of Mr. President, led to peaceful resolution and also to appreciate him for making himself physically present in the burial ceremony of our late governor, His Excellency Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu.
“And We are here also to tell him that as far as we are concerned, those of us around amongst our members and those that are on their way that we are fully in support of continuity of APC-led government. We are in support of continuity. We want APC to continue with the governments of Ondo State. We believe it will work out and we are giving them 100% assurance that the primary elections will be peaceful. Inshallah” he stressed.
While answering questions from journalists on open letter written by the National Assembly members from Ondo State, Oladiji affirmed that State Assembly members are in disagree with the letter.
“And because we are the honourable member, we are the MHAs in our various state constituency and they we have about almost 15 of us here present or you know what it means we have 22 APC members in the House of Assembly. We have 13 here now and another two are on their way coming.
“We have 13 here now and another two are on their way coming. So that is about 15. And if we are telling you that the state under the leadership of Governor Lucky is at peace, you know, we mean what we are saying and then apart from that also, for now, the appointment he has done is just for six commissioners, and he did it you know senatorial by senatorial, two per senatorial district, of which it’s still very okay.
“Like those people that are complaining. I want to believe that they have not been coming to Ondo State to come and witness what is going on there. They are permanently in Abuja here. We are the ones that are closer to the grassroot, we know what is going on in Ondo State.
“We believe in continuity and let me use this opportunity to to put the record straight, as far as we are concerned, we are not here to come and deceive the people of Nigeria. His achievements, the achievements of the incumbent governor are out there. Presently he has started the recruitment of 2000 workers in the academic sector, and at the same time, he has worked at the ODRS and the most important thing is that he did not stop the legacy started by the late governor.
“He directed all the contractors to go back to the site of which everybody in the state applauded. So what am I trying to say in essence is that as I’m talking to you now, all the contractors are now on the site working and other projects too are ongoing in Ondo State. And there’s a synergy now between the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature.
“There’s peace in Ondo State. And we are all working together we are praying together and I can give you 100% assurance that our primary elections come April 2024 is going to be very, very Peaceful” he noted
Responding, the APC Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje reminded that Ondo state is an APC state and would continue to maintain it as an APC state.
He called for the Lawmakers cooperation to have a free and transparent primaries in the state and believed that APC members are equal to the task with good synergy between the party and the institution as members of the State House of Assembly.
“I want to call upon you, very soon you know your government is an off season as far as is election is concerned. This year there will be election for governorship in Ondo State and there are many things that must happen according to the programme; we started with verification of party membership, then it will lead to screening of aspirants and of course there will be primaries among the aspirants so that we can come up with a candidate for our party.
“You were here in your numbers because of an important issue pertaining to peace and stability of Ondo State when the late Governor of Ondo State was very sick and there was political turbulence in the state. We are so happy that we waded into that and also Mr President of the federal republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was so kind enough to devote his time to see that that problem was resolved amicably.
“So, we are not surprised when you are here to thank us for the role we played and at the same time we too we thank you because without your cooperation, solution will be very very difficult.
“We also like to seize this opportunity to condole you on the death of your governor, our colleague, our friend. He was a principled person, very hard working, a nationalist. It was a great lost. We continue to pray for him and also extend our sympathy and condolence to the family. I want to call upon you, very soon you know your government is an off season as far as is election is concerned.
“This year there will be election for governorship in Ondo State and there are many things that must happen according to the programme; we started with verification of party membership, then it will lead to screening of aspirants and of course there will be primaries among the aspirants so that we can come up with a candidate for our party. Ondo state is an APC state and we will continue to maintain it as an APC state.
“We need your cooperation so that we can have a free and transparent primaries in the state so that we can shore up our opportunity and believe our members are equal to the task with good synergy between the party and your institution as members of the State House of Assembly.
“We thank you for coming and we assure you that have prepared a well articulated programme for the primaries in Ondo state in order to produce a candidate. Also, I have noted your request that we should extend your greetings and happiness to the Governor of Ondo state because he has succeeded in working with the legislature, judiciary, executive and different segments. I will do that” Ganduje concluded.
