Just two months to the governorship election in Ondo State, there are strong indication that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State chapter is facing another round of crisis over the choice of Mr. Gboluga Ikengboju as the running mate of the party’s candidate in the election, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede.
Ikengboju, who is a lawmaker in the lower chamber of the Nigeria legislature, is representing Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency. He was announced by Jegede as his running mate via Twitter on Monday. Jegede in his remark said, the choice of his running mate was divine.
However, it appeared that Ikengboju’s choice did not go down well with some members of the party who have threatened to withhold their support for Jegede.
One of the party’s aspirants who lost to Jegede during the PDP primary, Mr. Banji Okunomo, has expressed displeasure over the choice of Ikengboju as running make.
This was expressed in a communique issued by his campaign organization at the end of a meeting on Thursday.
The communique read in part, “The BBO executive session views with emphatic disapproval and absolute sense of rejection the undemocratic and unpopular dimension in which Jegede chose to foist the nomination of Ikengboju on the PDP as his running mate, in stiff defiance to all wise counsels to the contrary, portraying him as a rigidly conservative person that will always override superior majority view.”
The communique added that the choice of those who contested the PDP primary and lost would have been better.
On the contrary, a former deputy governorship candidate of the party, Mr. John Mafo, has congratulated Ikengbolu on his selection, saying the decision was good one.
He said, “Being a man under authority, I am duty-bound to respect the choice of our candidate. Moreover, I am using this medium to call on all and sundry to let us put the issues of the primary and choice of deputy governorship candidate behind us and work for the success of our party in the forthcoming election,”
