THE lawmaker representing Ondo North Senatorial district at the National Assembly, Senator Ajayi Borroffice, on Wednesday declared that his re-election bid in 2019 was unstoppable, saying no plot against his return would be successful.
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the media aide to the lawmaker, Mr Kayode Fakuyi, who said; “no plot can stop the re-election bid of Senator Ajayi Boroffice.”
According to the Senator, there was no going back on the mode of primaries to be adopted by the party in the state to select its candidates for all the primaries for the 2019 election.
Boroffice, who has been having a running battle with the State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, over the modality to be adopted for the party’s primaries in the state, disclosed that he has undergone and scaled through the required and necessary screening for the primary election.
He noted that the two factions of APC in the state had been at loggerheads over the screening of aspirants and other related issues.
But Boroffice said in the statement “In line with the approval of direct primaries for Ondo State by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, Senator Ajayi Boroffice is upbeat and ready for the election. Indeed, no plot can stop the re-election bid of Senator Ajayi Boroffice.”
Meanwhile, the factional APC in the state has expressed its dissatisfaction over an alleged plan by the state governor, Akeredolu, to scheme out the group from being screened by Screening committee.
The faction said the governor embarked on the plot in order to ensure that only aspirants from the governor’s camp are cleared and adopted as the party’s candidate.
The APC factional Chairman, Hon. Idowu Otetubi, said governor Akeredolu has openly adopted some of the aspirants of the party ahead of their screening and expressed regrets over the development in the party.
He said the leadership of the party has refused to give room to a fair process and had perfected all arrangements to pocket the party in the state and called on the national leadership of the party to intervene in the matter.
Otetubi said “we have been reliably informed that the same few elements that wanted to put the APC in their pockets have perfected plans to bribe the screening committee of our party to ensure that their adopted candidates are the only aspirants that will be screened for the elections.
“We received complaints that some aspirants said the governor has openly adopted candidates for Ondo central and Ondo North senatorial zones.
“The governor has also adopted some house of assembly candidates and in order to achieve this, his team has perfected plans to scheme out other aspirants from the screening process.
“We condemned this plot in its strongest term and wish to call on the national chairman of our party to save the party from the suffocating fists of a few individuals.
“We are committed to the ideals of APC, the only progressive platform in Nigeria. These ideals are the driving factors that propel us to speak up against injustice.”
However, while reacting to the alleged imposition, the State Chairman of APC, Hon. Ade Adetimehin, described the group as a sponsored political group, put in place with wrong intent to mislead members of the party and the public.
He said the allegations were not only false but a calculated attempt to ridicule the state governor over unfounded allegations and said the party is committed to a free and fair election in the coming primary of our party across the state
He said “the party will do everything humanly possible to ensure a credible process and outcome.
“The Governor is relying on the leadership of the party led by Ade Adetimehin led executive to carry out this task of ensuring a free and fair election in an indirect primaries process across the eighteen LGAs in the state.
“The recent decision of the National Working Committee of our great party in allowing each state to decide suitable process of primaries election in their respective states is a welcome development which has vindicated us that the indirect primaries has become a viable option in a situation where membership registrations are in disarray.”
