Incoming governor of Ondo state, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, will be a totally happy man at the moment after being declared winner of the November 26 governorship election in the state.
He weathered the storm of having to campaign without the ‘huge’ support of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) whose influence many believe, would have ensured that Aketi would be announced winner even before the conduct of the polls.
But Aketi continued with his campaign unfazed, and was at the tail end of the journey, joined by other de facto leaders of the APC, a situation which put him in the spotlight as one of those with serious credentials ahead of the elections.
Here are FOUR major people WuzupNaija believes the APC man should be grateful to after succeeding in the polls:
1. President Muhammadu Buhari
Regardless of whatever influence the APC candidate may have wielded prior to the conduct of the polls, the people were probably not totally assured about whether they should vote for him or not until the arrival of President Buhari at the campaign premises.
The presence of the president alone was enough to tell the people that voting for Aketi means a lot to the ruling APC, especially after Edo state had continued with the party in power.
Dr Olusegun Mimiko, the outgoing governor of the state, had totally lost the people’s trust and the people must have been torn between re-electing his party member and voting for change. But President Buhari’s appearance made it clearer, who the people were going to cast their votes for.
2. Justice Okon Abang
Maybe not directly, but Justice Abang played a pivotal role in making sure that Akeredolu became a more ‘sellable’ candidate in the state.
His last minute announcement of Eyitayo Jegede as the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party sent the ruling party into pandemonium and a series of last-minute readjustment of their campaign plans. It had shifted from Vote Jimoh Ibrahim to Vote Eyitayo Jegede both from the same party.
In no little way would the people have been disillusioned since it was becoming more glaring that the party they were expected to vote for had suddenly become confused.
In case the new governor gets to read this, he has to put a call through to Justice Abang and say a big THANK YOU to him for creating ‘confusion in the camp of my enemy’.
3. Jimoh Ibrahim
Love him or loathe him, billionaire businessman turned politician, Jimoh Ibrahim, played a very influential role in determining the winner of the election.
He was disqualified from contesting on the platform of the PDP, but this was not enough to cause any form of setback for him as an individual as he turned defeat into a machinery that would later inform the victory of the opposition.
The former PDP flagbearer, it was gathered, openly turned his supporters against his own party and asked them to vote for the opposition. The rest, they say, is history as Aketi defeated his closest rival by a wide margin.
4. The people from his hometown, Owo
If anything, the people of Owo deserve the most accolades for being the brain behind the victory of Rotimi Akeredolu on Saturday, November 26.
They proved to other people in the state that they were truly proud of their son and their overwhelming vote for him played no small part in crowning him winner of the election.
In Owo alone, Akeredolu’s votes were more than the pair of AD and PDP combined. He had 32988 more than double of AD and PDP joined together.
Although they are his people, Akeredolu would not have won if he was not a good man to them. However, they repaid their faith in him by presenting him forward and ensuring that his win in his own hometown was not that of a fluke or a mistake.
Your Excellency in waiting, Sir, these people are deserving of a special THANK YOU message before you mount the podium to deliver your acceptance speech to your people for the first time ever, as their governor.
