The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Jimoh Ibrahim, declared on Monday that he would not participate in any reconciliation move to fix the cracks in the troubled party.
He also warned that he will probe the Mimiko government when he becomes the governor next February.
Addressing journalists in Akure, the state capital, he advised those supporters engaging in the reconciliation move towards winning the November 26 gubernatorial election to save themselves the trouble, as he will not plead with any political leader in the state to support his ambition.
“I am not going to prostrate or beg anybody before I become the governor. I will only beg the electorate. So, take it from me: I’m not going even to have any type of meeting with anybody that is recalcitrant to this ambition. It is not a do or die affair,” Ibrahim said.
He asserted that he would not compromise his basic principles simply because he wants to become the governor, and would only talk to the electorate and go to the polls.
Ibrahim said he would address the rotational governing system of Ondo State.
“I need to take away injustice; we cannot afford to have a senatorial district producing [the] governor for 16 years [in a row]. That is complete injustice, and we would never allow that to happen in Ondo State again.”
He asserted that the state has become bankrupt under the flamboyant government of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, describing its debt profile as alarming.
Of the incumbent, he said, “I don’t need to back Mimiko at this time, I am Jimoh Ibrahim and I can sue him after he leaves office and if I have a petition against him I can write it after he leaves office.
He noted that Mimiko’s term will end on “February 24, 2017, and clarified what is to be expected: “I will sue him, if I need to, fight him, I will fight him”.
Ibrahim also said he would within days eliminate the orange colour “branded as beautification” by the Mimiko government.
“I will dismantle all those orange colours and put back the federal government coat of arms when I come here as governor, within three days,” he said.
He also addressed the replacement of Eyitayo Jegede’s name by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), describing it as “add and delete,” and stressing that no act of impunity can stand before any competent court of law.
“At the last election, myself and [former President] Jonathan were together at the Democracy Park, and I told him that he cannot give the party’s flag to the people that Mimiko brought in from his village.
He said he told Jonathan at that time that if he does such thing, he will not leave the state in peace.
“Mimiko was just looking at the flag and I repeatedly told Jonathan that he cannot give him the flag. So, Eyitayo Jegede is just brand new in the system and he hadn’t had the opportunity of having Jonathan in his campaign or [bringing] in Obasanjo to this place (Ondo state) with five governors like I did.
He stated that when Dr. Olusegun Agagu was the governor, he [Ibrahim] was there and everyone was moving together, underlining that Jegede should take his time to seek political legitimacy as he had done.
“You can’t come in one day and be bragging all over the place. You have to take your time because, in Ondo State PDP, nobody can just come and enter like that. You have to take your time and be on the queue.”
He also criticized the Mimiko government for abandoning the infrastructural facilities executed by past administration that ought to be generating employment and income for the state.
Re-asserting that he will win the governorship and be sworn in as next governor in February, Ibrahim promised to rapidly develop the state through industrial and infrastructural development by bringing in business partners to invest in the state.
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