Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has thrown his hat into the ring for the November 2024 gubernatorial race, signaling his intent to seek another term in office.
Furthermore, the governor refuted any suggestion of discord with the late Rotimi Akeredolu, emphasizing that the reported crisis stemmed from the ambitions of a select few within the state.
Aiyedatiwa assumed office as the governor of the state in December 2023 following the passing of the former governor, who had succumbed to a prolonged illness while receiving treatment in Germany. He was laid to rest in Owo, his hometown, on Friday.
With the All Progressives Congress governorship primary set for April, the incumbent governor conveyed his aspiration to compete and emerge triumphant in the party’s selection process, as articulated in his recent appearance on TVC News on Friday evening.
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He said, “Definitely, I will be running because I am already a sitting governor, and let me say this nobody wants to be governor for one year. Give me what the constitution allows me to do, at least let me have a chance also running for one more term as it were.”
“Let me put this straight for the record sake, I never had issues with the former principal, there was no time we had a face-off, there was no time we had an issue that will demand that I have to make up with him.
“All that was being pushed out at a time were political, there were all falsehoods and insinuations because an election was coming and they knew the governor was so sick and a lot of things were at play. There was no time, I had an issue that I needed to resolve with him, in terms of crisis.”
Regarding the open letter written by five members of the House of Representatives from the state to President Bola Tinubu, Aiyedatiwa said, “One of them is an aspirant, what do you expect from an aspirant? He wants to say something to de-market somebody who has a great advantage; one other one is a director general of a campaign to an aspirant.
It was also mentioned that all of them had ambitions regarding who they wanted to become governor. They described this as an unprogressive stance and stated that the party had responded by affirming that there was no crisis within the party and that they were not at loggerheads with the speaker.