Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has officially declared his intention to contest the Ondo State Governorship Election slated for November 16, 2024.
On Tuesday, the governor addressed supporters at Akure’s Gani Fawehinmi Arcade and expressed his desire to run for office on the All Progressives Congress, or APC, platform.
Aiyedatiwa, the then-Ondo deputy governor, would succeed the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu after his death on December 27, 2023.
Aiyedatiwa claimed that, the late Akeredolu wished for his success. “My mission would focus on key developmental issues to alleviate poverty, banish hunger, and make Ondo State self-sustaining. My development strategy is to implement a State Economic Empowerment Development Strategy, or SEEDS.
“Today, I offer myself to lead, not to rule, to respect your wishes, not to dominate you, and to lead by example of humility, good character and empathy, which I have demonstrated in office since 2021.
READ ALSO: N3.7 trn: I warned Ningi about budget padding — Ndume recalls
“Just about this time three years ago, our late leader and former Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, and my humble self as Deputy Governor, mounted the soap box to seek your support to govern this blessed State. You all gladly gave your support and ensured our victory under a joint ticket of the APC,” he stated.
“Distinguished citizens and party faithful, I must re-echo what our late leader had always wished for in his lifetime. It was his wish that I succeed him, not in death though, as the next Governor of the State.”
Aiyedatiwa was not the first to make such a claim as a former Commissioner for Finance in the state, Wale Akinterinwa, had said Akeredolu anointed him as his successor.
Betty Akeredolu-Anyanwu, the late governor’s widow, had recently publicly criticized her late husband’s niece for supporting Aiyedatiwa’s governorship bid.
However, Aiyedatiwa insisted that his late principal wanted him to carry on after him, Akeredolu. Aiyedatiwa stated, “All was done with one conviction and implicit trust in me to carry on the torch of accelerated development that he lit first in 2017 and later renewed under a joint ticket for both of us in the 2021 gubernatorial election”.
Credible news.ng
