There was a mild drama at the conclusion of the peace accord signing ceremony held in Akure, Ondo State capital yesterday as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu refused to shake hands with the deputy governor of the state and candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Mr. Agboola Ajayi.
The candidates of political parties participating in the election, including Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) signed a peace accord as part of the efforts to ensure the exercise is violence-free.
The peace pact was organised by the National Peace Committee (NPC) led by a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.
However, there was a mild drama at the conclusion of the event as Akeredolu refused to shake hands with the deputy governor.
The Master of Ceremony had asked the three major candidates to embrace, shake hands or bump elbows with one another as a sign that they had embraced peace.
Akeredolu greeted PDP’s candidate, Jegede, by bumping elbow with him as requested by MC but when it was the turn of his deputy, the governor refused to shake hands with or embrace him.
Akeredolu merely waved at Ajayi.
Ajayi has been at loggerheads with the governor before and after he left the APC and joined the PDP, then ZLP later.
Ajayi’s defection had generated reactions from both parties with some saying that he should resign.
But Ajayi and his supporters regarded those making the calls as “mischief-makers and political ignoramus”.
Ajayi maintained that he remained the deputy governor of the state, inasmuch as his people who elected him into office had not asked him to resign.
