The All Progressives Congress(APC) in Ondo said the determination and strategy deployed by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu gave the party’s victory in last Saturday’s election and not vote-buying.
It said opposition political parties were preparing for war while it concentrated on soliciting understanding, and canvassing voters.
The Ondo APC said it was natural for losers of the election to squawk and protest instead of committing themselves to the sincerity of assessment.
A spokesman for the Ondo APC, Alex Kalejaiye, in a statement, said it was Akeredolu’s determination and not desperation, reflected in his work plans and mode of operations that secured the wide margin of defeat for the APC.
Kalejaiye disclosed that Governor Akeredolu argued that it would be counter-productive for his aides and political stalwarts to follow him to campaign rallies just to showcase intimidating entourage.
He said Akeredolu directed political leaders to go to their wards and local governments to canvass for votes, saying “the votes are in the units and wards.”
According to him: “All the segments in the state saw the sincerity in his analysis, believed him, and resolved to support him for the reelection project. We appreciate the traditional, religious leaders, and all the groups for the feat recorded at the polls.
“The seriousness and determination he deployed were added advantages to his sterling performance, that has been variously described and applauded. The roads, the bridges, the genuine industrialisation efforts, schools, and the unprecedented intervention in the Agriculture sector. The actualisation of the dream of the Ondo Deep Seaport is now brighter than before, with the renewed mandate.
“It is not contestable that the APC is the most organised of all the political parties, with functioning structures across the state. Either by accident or design, the People’s Democratic Party was further disorganised through what they called State Congress, shortly before the election. The Zenith Labour Party came across as a miserable orphan throughout the electioneering campaigns.”