Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, has denied a report that he is dumping the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to contest the 2020 governorship election against Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
Ajayi said in a statement issued on Sunday in Akure by Babatope Okeowo, deputy chief press secretary, that the report was sponsored and the product of attention and job seekers.
He said “The attention of the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Agboola Ajayi, has been drawn to a sponsored story that he wants to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to contest next year’s governorship election.
“The deputy governor is unperturbed by this sponsored story and the ones before it as these are the handiwork of attention and job seekers. These funny characters are well known within the political circle in the state.
“This is to say that this is a blatant falsehood as Ajayi remains a bonafide member of the APC and has no plan to dump the party for any rival political party.
“There is no place where the deputy governor has met with stalwarts of the PDP not to talk of joining their party,” the statement said in part. The statement also apologised to Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state whose name was mentioned as being the sponsor of the alleged plan of the deputy governor to contest on the PDP’s platform in Ondo state.
The statement reiterated the loyalty of the deputy governor to Akeredolu, declaring that “this is to say emphatically, that Agboola Ajayi has no intention to contest against his boss.
“We want to say that we know that the plan of the sponsors of the story is to cause a serious rift between Governor Akeredolu and his deputy for their selfish reasons.”