Akure must produce next Ondo gov – Deji

Barely one year to the governorship election in Ondo State, the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo, has said that an indigene of Akure must emerge as the candidate of either the Peoples Democratic Party or the All Progressives Congress and subsequently the governor of the state.
The monarch also said that any party that failed to pick an indigene of the town would not be voted for by the entire people of the Akure division which he said comprised Akure-South, Akure-North, Ifedore and Idanre local government areas.

The monarch, who stated this during a news conference in his palace on Monday, maintained that it was time for the Akure division to produce the next governor .
He said other divisions such as   Owo, Okitipupa, Akoko and Ondo had produced a governor each, alleging that the Akure division had been marginalised since the creation of the state in 1976.
Expressing his commitment to achieving the goal, the monarch revealed that he had been holding a series of meeting over how an Akure indigene will become the next governor of the state.
The Deji said no Akure indigene would vote for governorship candidates from outside the Akure division in the forthcoming election.
The monarch said, “Next year’s election is our time, and we are ready. Any political party who failed to pick an Akure man does that at its own risk because this time around, we are not going to vote for an outsider. We don’t even want a deputy governorship slot.
“We have five divisions in Ondo State. They include Ondo, Okitipupa, Owo, Akoko and Akure. It is only the Akure division that has not produced a governor since 1976 that this state was created. It’s Akure’s turn now. It’s our turn and we are ready for it,” he maintained.
In order to achieve the dream, the Akure traditional ruler explained that he had been organising meetings with all monarchs and politicians in the Akure division on how to unite and pick a candidate that would win the governorship poll.
The monarch said his people were ready to form a new political party should the two most popular parties in the state fail to pick an Akure indigene as their candidate.
He declared, “If the PDP and APC refused to pick an Akure man, we shall form another political party that will win that election like Mimiko did in 2007. This is an Akure agenda. When I said Akure agenda, I mean all local governments under the Akure division. We have Akure North, Akure South, Idanre and Ifedore local government councils and we contribute a total of 44 per cent of the votes and we are going to win.
“I have been having a series of meeting with all our sons and daughters on how to speak with one voice. You will see that things will change next year. It is our project. If I am still alive by then, we must accomplish it by God’s grace.”