Even though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)is yet to officially release a new timetable for the election, political parties and gladiators eyeing the Alagbaka seat of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, are not leaving anything to chance.
No doubt, the Akeredolu-led – administration is gradually exhausting its lifespan. Therefore, voters will be due to go to the polls latest October 2024, to choose who take over from the incumbent. However, political parties and gladiatowrs in the state have started mobilizing for the all-important election starting with their parties primary.
Unless the state experiences a repeat of the 2007 governorship election when former governor Olusegun Mimiko brought in the relatively unknown party, the Labour Party(LP) to wrestle power from the then almighty People Democratic Party (PDP) and displaced the party, the 2024 governorship election will no doubt be a two-horse race between the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) and the major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
However, the present health status of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and the subsequent medical trip abroad has created some vacuum within his party, thereby slowing down some aspirants from coming out fully to declare their interest in plum job.
Despite the governor’s absence, some gladiators and politicians are not discouraged and have begun plotting and strategizing on how to win the tickets of their various parties for the next year’s governorship election, particularly those in the ruling party, APC.
APC has remained in the forefront in terms of preparation for the forthcoming governorship election in the state leaving behind the major opposition, the PDP. Presently in the mind of pundits, politicians in other parties, including that of PDP are currently on sabbatical as far as the 2024 governorship election is concerned.
This was confirmed by the chairman of the ruling party in the state, Engr. Ade Adetimehin when receiving some PDP defectors at Obanla in Akure, the state capital recently. Adetimehin said with the defection of hundreds of PDP members to APC, the opposition party has been crippled in the state.
According to him, “We have been managing the party well. Some parties have collapsed because there is disagreement between the chairman and governors, but since I came on board, more members have been joining the party.
“We have more or less a one-party system in Ondo state now, we would use the advantage to the fullest. The next election in Ondo State will be a walkover for the APC.”
However, politicking on who succeeded Akeredolu in the APC nearly crumbled governance in the state some weeks ago when some of the key players in the government tore the government into two camps. One camp belongs to the Deputy Governor and the other belongs to those that are perceived to be loyal to the Governor within the cabinet.
Confirming the development in his his first broadcast to the citizens of the state after he assumed office as the acting governor of Ondo State, the Deputy Governor, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa blamed governorship aspirants seeking to succeed Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for the uproar over the health status of the governor and the agitation for transfer of power during his absence.
Although he denied any disruption of government activities, saying that was a misplaced and only arose as a result of impatience and lack of proper understanding of the running of the machinery of government, Aiyedatiwa later said “Such misrepresentations and baseless allusions are to be expected when political gladiators by their activities in the build-up to party primaries and gubernatorial elections in any state try to heat the polity. Ondo State cannot be an exception. It is, therefore, important to assure our people that governance is on course in the State. “
Interestingly, there are more than 15 aspirants including the Acting Governor and some members of the cabinet, currently jostling to succeed Akeredolu whose tenure would end by February 24, 2025.
The aspirants are; Acting Governor, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Hon. Wale Akinterinwa, (Finance Commissioner), Chief Olusola Oke (SAN), Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, Hon Gbenga Edema, a former member of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Princess Oladunni Odu, Secretary to the State Government, Engr. Ife Oyedele, Executive Director Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Dr. Soji Ehinlanwo, Hon. Duerimini Isaacs Kekemeke, Southwest APC Vice President, Mr. Olusola Iji, former Ambassador, Hon. Jimi Odimayo, House of Rep member, and Mr. Matthew Oyerinmade.
Aiyedatiwa
Ordinarily, the Deputy Governor should have been the number one preference of the governor for the sit, if there had not been issues between him and some ‘cabal’ in the government.
Aiyedatiwa has created more enemies for himself in the process of fighting to ensure that he was made the acting governor of the state before the letter confirming such was sent to the House of Assembly by the governor. Some of his foot soldiers have gone all out to blame the delay in the transfer of power to him on some people in the government. He has been accused of being too desperate to clinch the ticket of the party by all means with or without the input of his boss.
According to feelers, this development has planted a seed of discord between him and his boss and this may not enable the governor to support his ambition for the number one seat in the state.
Hon. Wale Akinterinwa
Akinterinwa is one of the most influential and notable politicians in the present administration of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. With the administration gradually moving to its expiration, he is one of those people who have shown interest in succeeding the sixth executive governor of the state.
It is the belief of many indigenes and residents of the state, that the successor of Akeredolu should come among those who would continue with his legacies and use their network to bring development to the state. This has made many politicians and technocrats in the state shift their attention to the Commissioner for Finance as the possible successor to the outgoing administration of Akeredolu.
Apart from being the financial brain behind the Akeredolu administration’s success in the state, Akinterinwa is the longest-serving commissioner for finance in the history of the state. He has worked in that capacity with the administration of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and has remained in that position since 2017 till date. Analysts think that he is a manager of men and resources as the government has not been involved in any financial scandal since he assumed office.
Akinterinwa is a corporate finance professional, with a strong Managerial, Strategy, Finance, and Accounting background with more than 25 years of excellent training, strategic leadership, mentoring, and entrepreneurial prowess in diverse areas of investment banking, project finance, and management, venture capital, real estate development, finance and management consulting and public sector engagement. He is seen in the political cycle in the state as the best person in terms of maturity and composure to inherit the political and administrative structure of Akeredolu.
Olugbenga Edema
Olugbenga Edema was born in the remote village of Ogogoro, Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State on 15th November 1966.
He had his early primary education at the L. A. primary school, Ogogoro and Urban Community School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. For his secondary education, he attended Erinje Grammar School, Ode-Erinje, Ondo State between 1977 and 1978 and Doherty Memorial Grammar School, Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti State between 1978 and 1982. Edema proceeded to the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where he bagged a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Social Sciences in 1990 and served in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Programme at Gbogan/Ode-Omu Anglican Grammar School, Gbogan, Osun State. He later proceeded to the University of Ibadan, Nigeria for his degree in Law which he completed in 1999. He was called to the Nigerian Bar on the 3rd of July, 2001. Edema had his early stint with politics in 1998 as a member of the Peoples Solidarity Party, one of the many political associations aspiring for registration under the General Ibrahim Babangida transitional program.
He moved to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), one of the two political parties created by the Babangida administration where he held several significant positions including Delegate to its National Convention before the abolition of the two parties by General Sanni Abacha in 1993.
With the return to democratic rule in 1999, Gbenga joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) wherein he contributed immensely to its success in the 2003 elections. Subsequently, he served as a member of the Ondo State Sports Council (2005–2007) and the Ondo State Scholarships Board. He joined the Labour Party (LP) in 2010 and was elected as a member representing Ilaje Constituency II at the State House of Assembly in 2011.
He later joined the All Progressives Congress, APC, on the 23rd of October, 2014 and he re-contested but lost re-election in 2015. Until April 2021, he was the Board Chairman of the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission, OSOPADEC. Edema was appointed as a member of the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to represent Ondo State on the Board by former President, Mohammadu Buhari; the Board was inaugurated on the 4th of January, 2023.
Princess Catherine Oladunni Odu
Odu is one of the longest-serving political office holders in Ondo State having served as a commissioner for Education, and Women’s Affairs during the military regime. She served as Chairperson of the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) during the government of Late Olusegun Agagu. She served in the capacity in the first term of Governor Akeredolu. As the Secretary to the State Government, she has stood as one of the strongest pillars in the government, strengthening the work of her boss.
Chief Olusola Oke SAN,
One of the politicians in the state with a rich political profile is Chief Olusola Oke who was a member of the House of Representatives in 1992, NDDC Commissioner in 2001, and Chairman of the State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC). He was a National Legal Adviser of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and had been a governorship candidate of both the PDP and Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the state.
Dr Soji Ehinlanwo,
An alumnus of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti (EKSU) and the chairman of its Endowment Fund, Dr. Ehinlanwo was the State governorship candidate in the defunct Congress for Political Change (CPC) in 2012. The APC chieftain is the son of a two-term senator for the Ondo South senatorial district. The technocrat cum politician has thrown his hat into the governorship ring in the state.
Isaacs Kekemeke
D.I. as fondly called by his admirers got elected into the House of Assembly in the old Ondo State in 1992 at 29 years old and became the Minority leader in that Assembly. He was a member of the constitution drafting committee of the PDP in 1998 and became the pioneer Secretary of the Ondo State PDP. He was appointed the pioneer Chairman of the National Examination Council (NECO) by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000.
He was appointed the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ondo State in 2003, Commissioner for Works, lands, housing, and public infrastructure in Ondo State in 2005
Secretary to the Government of Ondo State in 2007. He was the pioneer Chairman of APC in the State in 2014 and is presently the National Vice Chairman of Southwest APC.
Senator Jimoh Ibrahim
Jimoh Ibrahim was the governorship candidate of the All Nigeria People Party (ANPP) in 2003. He contested against Late Adebayo Adefarati and Dr. Olusegun Agagu in the election that produced Agagu as the governor. He has remained in the political firmament of the state playing different roles during the successive governorship elections in the state.
Many people thought that he played a spoiler role in PDP during the governorship election that produced Akeredolu as governor in 2016. He emerged as the senatorial candidate of APC in the 2023 general election and defeated the immediate past Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Agboola Ajayi to emerge as the senator for Ondo South senatorial district.
Dr. Paul Akintelure
Since 2012 when he was the running mate to Akeredolu in the governorship election, which they lost, Akintelure has fizzled out from the politics of the state. He has remained in Lagos State and seldom comes to play the local politics. He has however shown interest in succeeding Akeredolu in 2025.
Engr. Ife Oyedele
Oyedele came into the political limelight in the buildup to the 2015 presidential election which Gen Buhari won. As one of the strong members of the CPC, he was made the Executive Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Executive Director.