The race for the November 16, 2024 governorship poll in the sunshine state of Ondo has began in earnest with the stage set for direct primary by the ruling All Progressives Congress where a member of the National Assembly, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim and 15 other aspirants will jostle for the party’s gubernatorial ticket on Saturday. Fidelis David reports.
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t is undeniable that Ondo State has remained stagnant among committee of states and bleeding from all sides and as we look back at what was lost, the task to recover that hope as a state that has enormous potential to be great lies within it’s people.
Good road network, reliable electricity, and adequate portable water supply, employment are significantly in deficit, thereby contributing to the nose-diving economy of the coastal state.
However, this Saturday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State would produce its candidate for the November 16, 2024 governorship election through a direct primary election.
Basically, out of over 20 gladiators throwing their hats into the ring as gubernatorial aspirants, 16 of them picked the expression of interest and nomination forms while the party’s National Gubernatorial Aspirants Screening Committee last week gave all the 16 aspirants a clean bill of health.
The aspirants are: Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa; former National Vice Chairman (South West), Isaacs Kekemeke, Olusoji Ehinlanwo, Hon. Olugbenga Edema, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Mrs. Funmilayo Waheed-Adekojo; Hon. Mayowa Akinfolarin, former Commissioner for Finance, Wale Akinterinwa.
Others are: Olusola Oke (SAN), Ohunyeye Felix, Morayo Lebi, Diran Iyantan; Prof. Francis Faduyile, Mrs. Judith Omogoroye, Engr. Ifeoluwa Oyedele and Hon. Okunjimi John.
The seven-man Screening Committee led by Senator Joshua Lidani gave all the aspirants the nod to contest the primary after a thorough screening which took place on Friday in Abuja after the inauguration of the Committee and the Screening Appeal Committees by the Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Duru.
However, it is worthy to note that standing out among the aspirants is the lawmaker representing Ondo South senatorial district, Jimoh Ibrahim who on different occasions said his passion and love for seeing the people live in good condition influenced his ambition to provide effective governance to the people of the sunshine state.
Besides, there are persons who have experienced trajectories that shaped who they morphed into today, and over the years, they have proven themselves as true models of prominence and Ibrahim is one of such persons.
With the success of the screening exercise, Senator Ibrahim is now ready to surmount every obstacle to win the APC Ticket on Saturday, April 20.
For Ibrahim, much has gone into preparations for the election and his only goal is to win and become the next governor of Ondo State.
Ibrahim, fondly called Araba by his numerous political admirers is waxing stronger and forging ahead with his campaign across all the 203 wards in the state and he has focused on issue-based campaign, marketing himself based on his vision for the state.
In a chat with newsmen in Akure recently, the aspirant said his political agenda is centred around key pillars of education, health, job creation, and infrastructure.
His words: “My programmes are very straightforward. We are to create moral efficiency and moral knowledge and making the body more efficient. We must also map Ondo state borders for security networks and then to ensure that we will never have any cases of kidnapping, by making Amotekun a classic and unique security outfit that will come with good strategy to challenge any security issues in our state.
“So one of the areas we are looking at is to ensure that everybody in Ondo state can go to sleep with their eyes closed and that’s top most of our priority. Mapping every systems, the tactical operations of Amotekun have to come more distinct into technology.
“I want an Amotekun that is IT informed because I have PhD in War. So we need to do more of IT, our government will ensure that Amotekun is IT compliant through strategy and innovations and it’s going to be well funded to ensure that people of Ondo State can sleep with their two eyes closed.
“And if we have security first, if we can be secured individually, we will secure the state. So, I’m saying now that the Amotekun will have the highest attention in terms of information technology, I am an expert in security, I may not be wearing military uniform and when I become the governor, we must have residence card, containing all your data”.
He further said, “We are going to face infrastructural development by making sure that we create employment through that. So we should expect the Bitumen Act that I’m moving at the Senate, which is now at the Third Reading to be more prominent and classic in engagement.
“Also in the North, we are going to do swap contracts, we are not going to spend Kobo to construct our roads. Also, the civil service will be very top instrumental that will run the government to ensure that they are computerized. We are going to devote powers to Commissioners to make them powerful so that they will not be running after the governor for any approval.”
The federal lawmaker said he would deliver on critical concerns in the state, such as insecurity, unemployment, deteriorated infrastructure, healthcare, and education, if elected as Governor.
Besides, the Senator has continued to intensify his mobilisation in the state, breaking new grounds daily as his message of hope resonates with the people’s aspiration for better life.
Last week, after the national leadership of the party instructed all members of the party in the state to pay their annual dues, due to the position of the party that only financial members would be allowed to vote during the primaries, the aspirant paid N100 million to enable some members of the party vote during the primaries of the party on April 20.
According to the business mogul, the payment was made to enable members of the party revalidate their membership in the party.
“I paid a sum of N100 million to the purse of our national secretariat as dues for some members of our party across the 18 local government areas of our state. It will prevent many of our members from being disenfranchised during the governorship primaries.”
The Director of media and publicity of Jimoh Ibrahim Campaign Organisation, Prince Banji Okunomo, argued that Ibrahim is the right man for the job because he has literarily paid his dues beyond comprehension and this is the time for the people of Ondo to give it to the person that has been tested and who has the experience doing a good job.
“He is financially healthy, and he is the candidate to beat in this election. He is a good manager of people, very brilliant and resourceful, and highly qualified. He has done well in the private as well as public sectors and also at the international level. He is giving us the best in this country today. Nigeria, as a country, is proud to have Jimoh Ibrahim.”
The aspirant’s Senior Legislative Aide, Yemi Akintomide also believe Senator Ibrahim, is the only aspirant in APC that has the intellectual capacity, mental magnitude, business acumen, national and international connections and academic qualifications to prosper Ondo State to economic prosperity and rapid growth and development of our dreams.
To him: “His success story in both local and international business, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, has an edge over and above his opponents at the poll as a bold and well read Law Graduate from the foremost Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife. Masters degree from both Universities of Oxford and Harvard and doctorate degree in Business from University of Cambridge, with many executive programmes completed from Oxford University.
“He is also a successful business mogul consistently for over two decades in private businesses with substantial interest in Aviation, hospitality, Oil and Gas, Estate Management for over three decades without blemishes and criminal records.”
According to Akintomide, the aspirant has been a philanthropist, community developer and kind giver since 1990s when he gave scholarship to many medical students then, who are successful medical pratictioners today.
Finally, for Ondo to achieve its feat, there is need for responsible government and knowledge of the local dynamics, culture, challenges, and opportunities would be essential for effectively leading and contributing to the development of the state, these qualities Senator Ibrahim possesses.
