Aiyedatiwa’s aide refutes report of anti-party allegation against gov

Ondo State Governor, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa. Credit: Ondo State Government House

The Senior Special Assistant to the Ondo State Governor on Public Engagement, Steve Otaloro, has denied a report that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa was supporting some National Assembly candidates of other parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.

A media report said Aiyedatiwa had shifted his support from the All Progressives Congress candidate for Ondo South Senatorial District, Isaacs Kekemeke, to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the district, Matthew Oyerinmade.

Otaloro, in a statement on Monday, said the governor had never supported and would never support any candidate against the candidates of the APC in the forthcoming election.

According to him, the governor had never authorised anyone to speak on his behalf in support of any opposition candidate, and any claim suggesting otherwise should be treated as false, mischievous and politically motivated.

He said, ” I wish to state categorically that there is no truth whatsoever in the insinuation that Governor Aiyedatiwa has abandoned the APC candidate or is supporting the candidate of another political party.

‎”Governor Aiyedatiwa is a committed member and leader of the APC in Ondo State. He has consistently demonstrated his loyalty to the progressive political family, dating back to the days of the Alliance for Democracy and the Action Congress of Nigeria, which eventually metamorphosed into the All Progressives Congress.

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‎” It is therefore inconceivable that the governor, who currently leads the APC in Ondo State, would deliberately pitch his tent against the candidate of the same party in favour of a candidate contesting on the platform of another political party.”

According to him, Governor Aiyedatiwa was committed to the APC and its candidates; his political loyalty and responsibility as the leader of the party in Ondo State did not permit him to engage in any action that would undermine the party he leads.

‎”It is also instructive that Dr Isaacs Kekemeke himself has publicly dismissed reports of any disagreement between him and the governor, affirming that the governor supported his emergence as the APC’s candidate and remains his benefactor and the leader of the party in the state.

‎”Consequently, members of the public, APC supporters and the people of Ondo State should disregard the rumour of an alleged shift in the governor’s support. It is nothing more than an attempt by political actors to create unnecessary division between the Governor and the APC’s senatorial candidate.”

He declared that Aiyedatiwa remained an APC leader, an APC loyalist and a supporter of the party’s candidates, insisting “the governor would not support any candidate against the party he leads.”