Ondo Governorship Election: Fear Grips APC As Makinde, Tambuwal, Mimiko Meet To Forge Last Minute Alliance To …

There is palpable anx­iety in the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) following the Federal High Court ruling which, on Wednesday, compelled the In­dependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to pub­lish the personal particulars of the party’s governorship candidate, Agboola Ajayi, Weetalknaija Daily Post report

Besides, the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, are expected to meet the for­mer governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, in what a source has described as “last minute damage assessment meeting”.

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presid­ed over by Justice A. R. Mu­hammed had granted the application for leave filed by Akure based lawyer, Femi Emmanuel Emodamori, seeking an order of manda­mus to compel INEC to pub­lish the personal particulars of the Ondo State deputy gov­ernor, Ajayi, as the candidate of the ZLP for the upcoming governorship election.

Emodamori maintained that he had strong evidence that Ajayi had presented fun­damental false information, attestations and certificates in his INEC form EC9, the af­fidavit verifying his personal data and eligibility.

According to the lawyer, INEC has also approved the release of the personal par­ticulars to him, and he is now set to institute an action in court to seek the disquali­fication of Agboola as the ZLP candidate in line with Section 31(5) & (6) of the Elec­toral Act 2010 (as amended).

A member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) confided in our correspon­dent that the duo of Makinde and Tambuwal had already spoken to Mimiko immedi­ately after the court ruling on the need for them to forge a last minute alliance to back Jegede.

The source said the meet­ing was directed by the na­tional leadership just as the PDP saw the court ruling as another opportunity to bring Mimiko on board in the bat­tle to unseat the APC led government of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

“Honestly, the court ruling really jolted them (ZLP) be­cause these days, you don’t underrate the possible neg­ative effects of any judicial process instituted against any governorship aspirant.

“Mind you, there is an­other such legal battle filed by another lawyer who is a member of our party against the deputy governor; and in the politics of nowadays, the judiciary has become a de­cider.

“And with the cases of Da­vid Lyon and even Oshiom­hole who despised the court process initiated to unseat them still fresh in our mem­ory, it appears the former gov­ernor has also caved in to the last minute safe assessment meeting because if he does not and the court strikes un­expectedly, it is the APC that will benefit from the mess.

“I have been told that the national leader of ZLP, Mim­iko, has been contacted by both governors on the need for the meeting so as to bring our candidate to him to pos­sibly apologise publicly in order to get his support to unseat the APC in that state. We won’t take chances at all,” the source said.

Meanwhile, two key aides of Ajayi, the ZLP candidate, have dumped him for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last 24 hours, an incident which many stake­holders believe is a major setback for his governorship ambition.

While Yemi Akintomide, a media aide to Ajayi, re­signed his appointment on Wednesday, Miss Dighitoi Feku, a prominent grassroots women mobiliser in Ese-Odo Local Government Area, also dumped the ZLP barely 48 hours after her unveiling as a member of the Campaign Council of the party.

Aside from dumping the ZLP, the Arogbo-Ijaw born businesswoman donated campaign materials to the APC which were presented to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu at the Govern­ment House, Alagbaka-Ak­ure.

She was accompanied to the Government House by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, and another APC chieftain, hi Raphael Aja­ga Ojubulu.

Dighitoi was, until her de­fection to the APC, Secreta