The PDP National Campaign Council for Ondo Governorship Election, condemns the repeated violent attacks by agents of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, against our candidate, Eyitayo Jegede and innocent citizens of Ondo state, following the irreversible consensus by the Ondo people to vote in our candidate, come next Saturday.
The PDP campaign however wants Governor Akeredolu and his APC to know that their recourse to political terrorism, brigandage and banditry against Eyitayo Jegede and the Ondo people, such as witnessed in Owo and Ipele on Tuesday, cannot save them, as no body had ever subdued the Ondo people on any score.
Governor Akeredolu and the APC ought to have known that declaring the Ondo people as enemy for life; unleashing their agents of violence against them and making attempts at the life of their preferred candidate, Eyitayo Jegede, cannot cow the people, but rather strengthen their collective resolve ahead of the election.
We know that this resort to violence is a ploy by Governor Akeredolu and the APC to inject crisis, overheat the polity and create tension in the state with a view to truncate the electoral process and push for a state of emergency, having realized that they cannot stand in a free, fair and credible election.
Already, the Ondo people are aware of the characters being used by Governor Akeredolu and the APC in this ignoble venture, including the self-confessed APC militia, Isaac Kekemeke and we caution them to desist from such or be ready to face the legitimate response of the people.
Moreover, we know that Governor Akeredolu and the APC are having sleepless nights because of Eyitayo Jegede’s soaring rating and particularly the warm reception being accorded to him by leaders and groups across the state.
This informed the deadly attack on our candidate in Oba Akoko, where he was received by the highly revered Oloba of Oba, Oba Nathaniel Adegoroye and now at Ipele, where leaders and citizens had pitched their tents with him ahead of the election.
Our campaign urges Governor Akeredolu to stop behaving like the biblical Saul, who, after his rejection, was consumed by envy and bitterness to seek the life of his preferred successor, David.
Such desperation for office, despite being rejected, avails nothing except further rejection as being witnessed between Governor Akeredolu and Ondo people, including key members of the APC who are displeased with this recourse to violence.
Our campaign calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to counsel Governor Akeredolu to stop overheating the polity because of his desperation to hold on to office.
We also call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately pull in characters like Kekemeke and other agents of violence being used by the APC to unleash mayhem on the people.
Governor Akeredolu should also advise himself and come to terms with the fact that the people of Ondo state have made up their minds to replace him with Eyitayo Jegede and no amount of violence can change that resolve.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
Chairman, Publicity Sub-Committee
