The senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim is not giving up on what he claims is his stolen mandate and the dashin
The senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim is not giving up on what he claims is his stolen mandate and the dashing of his dreams to finally rule Ondo State. He is challenging Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s victory in the recent All Progressives Congress primary elections.
He is joined by four other aspirants; Folakemi Omogoroye, Olugbenga Edema, Jimi Odimayo, and Wale Akinterinwa and they have petitioned the chairman, All Progressives Congress, APC Primary Election Committee, chaired by former Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar. They are demanding the cancellation of the governorship primary and the conduct of a fresh primary. They characterised the process as underwhelming, a derision of democracy, and a total disregard for established democratic principles. Ibrahim presented four key reasons to support his appeal for the cancellation of the election.
These reasons include the lack of adherence to the rules, failure to provide necessary electoral materials, failure to accredit agents, and instances of gross misconduct. They insist that on that ground that there was no election in the 203 wards in the state. Jimoh is particularly pained because according to him, he paid the sum of N100 million for the validation of over 40 thousand party members and those members were not allowed to be revalidated across Ondo State, because no voters register was made available in the wards to which members could be validated and as such, they did not sign the election result sheet since none was made available to them.
He also said no provision of electoral materials electoral materials were provided for the conduct of the election, the local government electoral officials were kept in the hotel during the period of the election for several hours and only result sheets were given to them. The ward electoral officers were provided by the incumbent, Ayedatiwa. Finally, in his village home at about 7 pm on the day of the election, the local government returning officer and members of his committee informed him that they were in his house to capture his vote, but he sent them away since his house is not a polling venue.
Based on these, he wants the election cancelled and re-conducted immediately, adding that anything short of this would be an open endorsement of the robbery by the leadership of APC.
When Ibrahim formally declared his ambition, he had linked his ‘likely’ victory to the passing of his friend, the late governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu. Ibrahim had hoped that his good deeds and support for the late governor would count for him at the polls. Recall that in the run up to the governorship election in the state in 2020, Ibrahim who was a staunch member of the PDP, had defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and donated 20 Kia Picanto cars to Akeredolu towards his re-election campaign. Without spelling it out, Ibrahim had hoped that his Greek gift would pave the way for him to be Akeredolu’s anointed successor.
But with the recent turn of events, that dream is already far from reality.
