Aiyedatiwa’s Hide-and-Seek on Re-election Game

Many political analysts did not believe the claim by the Ondo State Governor, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, that he was not seeking re-election, which was halted by a Federal High Court in Akure penultimate week.

The governor had barely settled down in office after he was sworn in when it was reported that he had discreetly commenced moves to seek reelection in 2028.

Aiyedatiwa was first sworn in on December 27, 2024, following the death of his predecessor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, to complete the remainder of his tenure.

He was subsequently sworn in again on February 24, 2025, after winning the November 16, 2024, governorship election in the state.

Recall that under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2019, the 1999 Constitution was amended.

By this amendment, a deputy governor who assumes the office of governor to complete the tenure of an elected governor due to death, resignation, impeachment, or permanent incapacity, is only eligible to be elected to that office for one additional term of four years.

However, barely three months into his tenure, Aiyedatiwa’s supporters started campaigning on social media for his re-election in 2028, arguing that he remained eligible to contest the election.

They argued that the governor did not emerge through an election in 2023 and that the first time he would be elected as governor was in the November 2024 election.

Following a suit instituted by a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Kin Egbuwalo, the presiding judge, Justice Toyin Bolaji Adegoke of the Federal High Court held that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) does not permit an elected president, vice president, governors, or deputy governors to remain in office for more than eight years.

However, the governor has denied nursing any ambition to contest the next governorship election in the state.

According to him, he has never told anyone that he would re-contest.

Rather than dissipating his energy and allowing himself to be distracted by sycophants, the governor should channel his strength on tackling the worsening insecurity in the state, and delivering quality infrastructure that would make his tenure, however short, to be edged in gold.