Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko has warned oppositions to the Labour Party government to be prepared for an unprecedented disgrace in coming elections declaring that the ruling party will win massively.
He made the declaration in his office yesterday while playing host to the former Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southern Senatorial District of the state, Chief Tola Akintemi who defected to the Labour party (LP) with his supporters.
According to the governor, Labour Party remains the biggest-ever political party in the history of the state saying that “it is not about winning, but winning big and massively.
“We will continue to pursue our life-changing transformational agenda irrespective of impending distractions or adversaries of the opposition. I am sure that come election time, we are not only interested in beating the opposition, we are interested in disgracing them electorally.
“We cannot have too many people in a party; we still go out and harvest more people into the party, we will allow level playing ground for everybody and continue to transform the peoples’ lives and make Ondo State in all its ramifications a cynosure of all eyes”, Mimiko declared.
The governor described Akintemi as a frontline politician and a great organizer of men and asked him to bring his wealth of experience to bear on the party organization in the state.
The State Chairman of Labour Party, Chief Olu Ogidan had earlier received Chief Akintemi into the party at a forum in the state capital which was attended by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Samuel Adesina.
Chief Ogidan, who described the former PDP chieftain as a reliable and progressive politician, noted that his defection into the progressive fold would further accelerate the development of the state.
The LP chairman maintained that the doors of the party are open for any trustworthy and progressive-minded politician, stressing however that its doors would remain shut against spoilers and liars who would see good things and pretend not to see.
His words “Chief Akintemi is an asset to the state in terms of politics. His coming to Labour Party is a welcome development. Our slogan is that there is room for all. There is room for trustworthy people, people that are progressive in mind, people that are ready to join the moving train. In our party, there is no room for liars, there is no room for spoilers”.
While welcoming him into LP, the Deputy -Governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi congratulated the defector for the bold step taken, describing him as one of the pillars of the PDP in the state.
Olanusi also described him as a progressive politician whose wealth of experience would be useful in building the state.
Responding, Chief Tola Akintemi debunked the rumour that his planned defection was based on financial inducement, stressing that the present administration of Dr Olusegun Mimiko has brought both national and international recognitions to the state through programme initiation and execution.
While saying that the electorate have benefited immensely from the dividends of democracy being delivered by Mimiko’s government, he also vowed to contribute his quota to the development of the state and urged the people to give unflinching support to the government.
He said “the last one year has been devoted to consultations and meetings, particularly with people of my immediate constituency and larger groups where the Speaker, Secretary to the State Government and Chairmen of Boards among others hailed from as well as the construction of Mega Primary Schools in our area. In short, the community has prevailed over political considerations.”
Akintemi added “it is also a belief in Ondo State and beyond that the landmark programmes of the present administration under Dr Olusegun Mimiko have brought our state into the national and international integration, integration that has uplifted the socio-political benefits due to our dear people”.