The Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has said that he has nothing to fear with 16 aspirants jostling for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the April 20 governorship primary election.
Aiyedatiwa stated this on Thursday in Abuja after submitting his nomination and expression of interest forms at the party secretariat.
He said his desire to continue as the governor of Ondo State was not just borne out of his ambition alone; it was in response to the demands, callings, yearnings and aspirations of the people of the state.
His words: “We have almost 15 aspirants jostling for this same office and they are eminently qualified. Let me tell you here that we know ourselves; they have been around and we know who they are and what they can do.
“There is nothing to fear; we are all indigenes of Ondo State but the people know what they want. The students, the men, the support groups, and the artisans are calling for me to continue. These are the people who will determine who will be their governor, and I can tell you they have even spoken, by all that they have been saying since this whole process started. So there’s nothing to fear.”
Asked why he decided to contest after serving as the deputy governor before becoming the governor, Aiyedatiwa noted that all power lies with the executive governor of a state.
He added: “In a democracy, the deputy cannot act on his own. As deputy, I was then serving the state through the governor because the deputy has no function of his own unless what is assigned to him by the governor.
“So, in the years of being a deputy governor, I was serving the people through the governor and running with the agenda put in place by the governor, though we were on a joint ticket.
“As acting governor, yes, we follow through, the period was just for 21 days when the governor is on vacation. I want to commend the late governor for all that he did when he was governor of the state. We worked together for the vision he had for the state. I couldn’t do anything differently because it was the same joint ticket.”
Aiyedatiwa stressed that, as governor, in the last three months, he has tremendously brought innovation into governance through the things that he and his team have been doing.
According to him: “In governance, we have seen in the last three years as deputy governor areas of weakness and areas that we can improve upon. These are the areas we are working on so that we can improve on what has been before because I have always been part of the administration in the last three years.
“Part of what we have been able to improve upon is ensuring that no staff of Ondo State is owed their salaries. All their arrears had been cleared immediately when I came into the office.”