The controversial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo state, Jimoh Ibrahim, has dismissed the reports of violence in the state, saying supporters of Olusegun Mimiko, the incumbent governor, have just been “burning tyres”.
Residents of the state woke up on Friday to see bonfires in different parts, as youth in their huge numbers also trooped to the streets to protest the exclusion of Eyitayo Jegede, candidate of the Ahmed Makarfi faction, from the governorship race.
But Ibrahim referred to the incidents as tricks employed by Mimiko, alleging that the two-time governor used a similar approach prior to his emergence.
“My attention has been drawn to the ongoing burning of tyres under the pretext of disruption of activities. It was orchestrated by Governor Segun Mimiko.
“In 2009, Governor Mimiko forged security reports of the SSS and the police to deceive the court and tribunal of Justice Nabaruma that there were security issues in the state, leading to cancellation of results in eight out of 18 local governments of the state
“This is how Governor Mimiko schemed himself into power, but when the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua realised that the forgery story was true, Mimiko was already enjoying constitutional protection as governor,” Ibrahim said in a statement.
Ibrahim alleged that Mimiko instructed commercial drivers in the state to assemble used tyres and set them ablaze in order to give the impression that there was tension.
“Yesterday, Mimiko called on the drivers’ union in the state, whose chairman is his relative, to gather disposed tyres across the state and burn them so as to show that there are security challenges in Akure town.
“While the tyres were burning, school children were attending their classes, banks were opened, market women and traders were carrying on their economic activities, courts were sitting and more tyres were burning by the side of the road.
“Regrettably, Mimiko’s orthodoxy has played out to be fake, empty and unbecoming of a person that occupies the position of the governor of a state.
“I am happy to note that Mimiko eventually met with President Muhammdu Buhari, a president he had described as unfit to govern Nigeria, and according to Mimiko, the president does not have a school certificate.
“Regrettably, this tyre burning for sympathy will not work as Ondo state remains peaceful.”
At his meeting with Buhari, Mimiko accused INEC of attempting to set Ondo on fire.
The Makarfi faction of the PDP has also advised the federal government to manage the crisis in the state in order to prevent a recurrence of the political violence which led to the end of the First Republic.
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