By Dayo Omoogun
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the former governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of plotting a third term bid through the back door using the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
This was contained in a statement released Tuesday by the party’s Deputy National Secretary Yekini Nabena.
The party says this is evident in the way the party’s campaigns has featured him even more prominently than its candidate.
“A former and two-term governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko is plotting a third-term bid surreptitiously through Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), one of the political parties contesting the October 10 governorship election in the state and which he controls as the Party’s sole administrator.
“It is not surprising that the entire governorship campaign of the ZLP has centred on Mimiko rather than the obscure and supposed ZLP governorship candidate, Agboola Ajayi.
The party alluded that Mimiko’s alleged arbitrary rule and how he fictionalised his party is still very fresh in the minds of the people and can therefore not be hoodwinked by his new game plan.
“Perhaps, Mimiko deludes himself that the good people of Ondo state have forgotten how they were subjected to his arbitrary, tyrannical and dictatorial actions when he governed the state. They have not!
“It is on record how Mimiko fictionalised his then political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for his political divide and rule tactics in the party and government.
“Under Mimiko, government projects and patronage were disproportionately distributed only based political servitude not priority needs of the State.
“Little wonder many of Mimiko’s associates have ditched him and are now frontline leaders of the APC, in firm support of our candidate, incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
“It is understandable, that the ZLP’s supposed governorship candidate has nothing to campaign on after junketing several political parties to purchase their governorship ticket to contest the October 10 election in Ondo state.
The party trumpeted the performance of its candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu, who it describes as prudent, accountable and transparent.
“For us in the APC, the good governance credentials of our candidate, incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu is visible to all, particularly in the area of infrastructure, agriculture, human capital development, industry, entrepreneurship, among others. This is the focus of our well-received campaigns.
“Governor Akeredolu first-term administration has ensured prudency, accountability, transparency and blocked leakages which have ultimately enhanced good governance. Ondo State has witnessed unprecedented and massive infrastructural developments, culminating in over 300 kilometres of critical roads being constructed and rehabilitated.
“Ondo is one of the model states that is successfully domesticating and implementing the diversification and agriculture drive of the APC government, with an army of over 6,000 trained Agripreneurs.
“The Ondo people know Governor Akeredolu as the governor who signed into law, a contributory health insurance scheme which enables all classes of people in the state access to affordable health care services.
“The party claimed that the good people of Ondo state are better off under Akeredolu and boasted that ” they are poised to overwhelmingly return him to continue his administration’s good work, come October 10.”