Mimiko lists achievements, Akeredolu rejects fraud allegation

THE struggle for control of Ondo State through victory in the forthcoming
governorship election continued at the weekend with the Labour Party (LP) listing its
achievements in office while the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) denied allegations
against it and cautioned against what it perceived could undermine the polls.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko who spoke at Idanre during his campaign tour of the local
council stated that in the last three and a half years, the rapid developments that his
administration had put in place had made Ondo State to tower above its peers in the
region.
Mimiko said: “In our education sector, we are proud to say that no state in the South
West compares to us, indeed, while students pay as much as N250, 000 and above in
tertiary institutions in all the South West states, most of our students in Ondo State
tertiary institutions pay less that N25, 000 yet, members of a particular political
party say they are progressive and boast that they will capture us.
“In Nigeria today, our workers collect the highest minimum wage of N22, 000 while
most of the workers in the South West are still
agitating for the N18,000 minimum wage, yet they claim they are the progressives.
Initially, they came to ask for the blueprint of our projects, we gave them, and now
they copy them outright, yet they could not even imitate us well. And they said they
want to capture us as if we are rats and grass-cutters.”
And from the ACN camp, the Akeredolu Campaign organisation challenged what it
described as the faceless organisation that accused the party’s governorship
candidate Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of fraud to petition the police and the Economic
and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to investigate the alleged scam.
Besides, Akeredolu pledged to submit himself and his company, AKT Ventures for
probe by the security agents.
In a statement, the Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy of the Akeredolu
Campaign Organisation, Idowu Ajanaku, described the allegation as “a baseless,
wanton cheap attempt to bring the name of Akeredolu to disrepute by this
irresponsible association.” According to him, the allegation that Akeredolu
diverted N3 million donated by Niger State government is a mere falsehood. The
so called scandal has already been investigated by the top level of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) and Akeredolu had been acquitted of any misconduct, undue
influence or manipulation of the process as far back as 2010.”
Besides, the ACN expressed worry over what it described as the worsening security
situation in Ondo State with the alleged arrest of a personal assistant to a traditional
ruler in Ilaje area, with massive explosives, rifles and other dangerous weapons by
the Nigerian Army Detachment in Okitipupa.
“This is a dangerous dimension to the build up to the governorship election. It would
be recalled that the ACN had earlier raised the alarm over importation of arms into
the state and now they have started distributing these to all the local governments
to intimidate members of the opposition, cause confusion before and during the
forthcoming governorship polls,” Ajanaku said in another statement.
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