Chief Rotimi Akeredolu

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State Sunday  debunked reports that it did not submit the name of its candidate, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu for the October 20 gubernatorial election in the state less than 24 hours to the deadline of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The chairman of the party’s Contact and Mobilisation Committee, Mr Ade Adetimeyin, told THISDAY in Akure Sunday that the ACN had last week submitted Akeredolu’s name and that of his running mate to INEC.

Adetimeyin said the whole noise about the submission of the candidate’s name was the handiwork of the ruling Labour Party (LP) in view of the popularity of Akeredolu.

“You can call INEC and confirm from its Public Relations Officer, the name of the party’s running mate,”Adetimeyi stated.

Buttressing the position of Adetimeyi, the Special Adviser (Media) to Akeredolu, Mr Idowu Ajanaku told THISDAY that the report was not only a fallacy but a cheap blackmail and propaganda of the jittery Labour Party.

“Akeredolu, the ACN candidate is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who knows the implication of all the processes of elections. He was in the forefront of the legal battle that brought Mimiko into office, so he cannot make such costly mistake.

“Aside this, all the political parties can still within 14 days after the expiration of the deadline to change the name of their candidates and that of their running mates, so what is a big deal about the whole thing?

“We know this is the handiwork of the Labour Party that is already jittery about the election”, Ajanaku stated”, Ajanaku stated.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer for the INEC in Ondo State, Mrs B Beckley, said the matter is the responsibility of the commission’s headquarters in Abuja and not of the Ondo State office.

She said it is the Abuja headquarters of the commission that will inform the Ondo State office that this or that party had done this and not Ondo State INEC