The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), on Monday boasted that if the two factional candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Jimoh Ibrahim and Eyitayo Jegede, combined forces and contested against him, he would emerge victorious at the poll.
Akeredolu said this in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after the Chairman of the APC Governorship Campaign in the state, Mr. Solomon Lalong, led him to a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
When told that he must be happy contesting against Jimoh than facing Jegede who had the backing of the state Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, the APC candidate said he was not scared of any of them.
He said he would be happier if Jimoh and Jegede could hold a joint ticket and confront him.
“I can assure you that I would have been happier facing both of them together. If Eyitayo Jegede was chosen as the candidate and Ibrahim as his deputy, I will still win.
“In fact, Jegede happens to be a friend and Ibrahim too. Jimoh Ibrahim went to Ife, so we have known ourselves for long. I have no fear about both of them. We know that we are going to win this election and I have no doubt about it,” Akeredolu boasted.
When asked if he had settled his rift with a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the candidate said there was no rift.
He claimed Tinubu had accepted the result of the primary that produced him as the candidate.
Akeredolu said, “I don’t have any rift with him (Tinubu). Since the primary, you would see that as the leader of the party, he has not said anything about it.
“He has accepted the primary and we are moving on. So, I don’t have any rift with him at all and we are moving on.”
On the protest being embarked upon by the PDP members over Jimoh’s recognition as the party’s candidate, Akeredolu said the position of the APC was that security agencies should not allow miscreants to take over.
He insisted that the PDP’s internal problem should not lead to demonstration outside, saying protesters were paid to do so.
Lalong, who is the Plateau State Governor, on his part urged Mimiko to stop bothering Buhari about the PDP problem.
He said, “Let me say it was even wrong for them to start running to Mr. President to help them solve the problem of the PDP in their party.
“Mr. President is the President of Nigeria and he is not a member of the PDP, even when we have problems in the APC we don’t run to Mr. President.”
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