Ahead of Saturday’s 16th governorship election in Ondo State, the family of the late governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has declared support for the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP) Otunba Bamidele Akingboye.
The family gave the declaration on Thursday.
The family with ASEI Human Rights of Nigeria also called on voters to consider personalities instead of political parties in choosing their preferred candidates in order to enjoy good governance in the next four years.
Speaking on behalf of the family, the younger brother of the late Governor, Oluwafemi Akeredolu, urged the voters to prioritise the candidate’s integrity over party affiliation, noting that voting the right person translates to good governance.
Akeredolu said, “I am the youngest brother to the late Oluwafemi Akiridolu, who was the former governor of Ondo State, same father, same mother. So we know there is something that we do in our family. If we say we are going forward we don’t look back. We believe one thing, being truthful, being precise.
“If we say we are going forward, we are going forward, and that is why you always hear that they call my brother talk and do. He is a very, very strict person.
“It is not about the party. My brother was a staunch APC member. It is not about the party. What has the party done for us as Nigerians ? The party can pick an idiot and put him there so that people should vote. People vote for the party now. It’s the party they are voting for”
He said “If INEC changes their pattern or election pattern that they should be voting for individuals, some parties will not make it. Individuals will come out and say, oh, okay, I’m voting for an individual. This is the individual I like.
“You will see that some people will have different choices and say, no, I’m not voting for this man. I’m voting for this man. And we should have that at the back of our minds that it is not about the party.
“It is about who wants to run for the party. If someone is not competent enough and is in a majority party, must everybody now be foolish to follow the majority party? No. We know our situation. People are hungry.
“We have decided that it is not the party we want to follow, it is the personality. And in the personality of Otunba Bamidele Akingboye, I know he has a lot of potential for Ondo State.
“Ondo sea port is the biggest and deepest breathing area for any ship. There is a ship in China, that ship is about 2,000 meters long and about 4,000 meters wide. If you are driving that ship into any country, it has to stay in the middle of the deep sea.
“Other ships will have to go there and pack things from it. But that ship can turn around in Ondo state’s port. It can do a 360 turn in Ondo state’s port.
“And they left it unexplored. We thank God that my brother got the certificate for the port before he died. But nothing has been done on it.
“Now, the man there is promising that he will hand over the port. Do we want to hand over our port to a foreigner? No, we won’t let that happen in Ondo state.
“Ondo state needs change. And this is what will give us our change. Our fingers will go out on Saturday and vote for SDP. Once we vote SDP in, I can tell you, I can boast of it, that in six months, you will start seeing changes. Six months.
He assured that, “if he is elected as governor, come Saturday, 16th of November, by Monday, 18th of November, he will start spending his money on the state. His own personal money, he will spend it on the state.
“And that shows a man that has a vision for the people. Not for himself alone. He has a vision for the people. And he will achieve that vision. He cannot achieve it alone. He has to achieve it through us. He has to achieve it through you. We need to take him there. And it’s SDP that will get him to that platform.“
Also speaking, Oba Adewumi Babalola, the National President, ASEI Human Rights, said he had the revelation that the SDP candidate was the right choice to move the state in the right direction.
Babalola said, “I am here to deliver a message to our people in Ondo state concerning the upcoming election on the 16th, 11th, 2024. The message I passed to people in Ondo state, God showed me the next governor of Ondo states.
“That is why I called the people in the state to listen to my vision today. So, the vision, I got the new vision, to change the government in the state. God sent me to tell people to vote for SDP. That is Otunba Bamidele Akingboye.“
