Mimiko rescues Buhari as Ondo elections gets intense
– Governor Olusegun Mimiko has come to President Buhari’s rescue as regards controversies stemming from Ondo state
– Regarding the PDP candidacy rift in Ondo, Mimiko says Buhari had no hand in the decisions by INEC
– Mimiko further said the selection of the PDP candidate in the forthcoming election, followed due process
Dr Olusegun Mimiko has asserted that President Muhammadu Buhari has no hand in the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC), decision to have Jimoh Ibrahim’s name replaced with that of Eyitayo Jegede.
Ondo election: Jimoh Ibrahim appeal against Jegede has been struck off, with Jegede granted the position as candidate of the PDP in the forthcoming Ondo polls.
Mimiko made the declaration while celebrating the emergence of Jegede last night in Akure, the state capital.
He said, “Initially, we thought INEC was under an undue influence from the top. With my interaction with the President, however, he (Buhari) has no hand in it. But certain elements in the Presidency are part of this conspiracy and complicity.”
Recall that INEC had initially replaced Jegede’s name with that of Ibrahim as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the Saturday’s governorship election, following an order of an Abuja Federal High Court.
However, an Appeal Court, Abuja division, had yesterday declared the reinstatement of Jegede as PDP governorship candidate.
He, however, said he believed that certain elements in the Presidency were behind the plot.
He called on INEC to postpone the poll in order to ensure fairness and justice for Jegede.
In a similar vein, claims by the Peoples Democratic Party National Youth Frontiers (PDPNYF) suggest that the Ondo elections might not end free and fair.
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The PDPNYF accused the presidency of conniving with some senior officials within the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to rig the Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State in favour of Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Daily Post reports that the group also fingered a National Commissioner of INEC, Mrs Amina Zakari as the arrowhead of the alleged plot.
The National Coordinator of PDPNYF, Comrade Austin Okai, while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, alleged that the whole plot was championed by some powerful government officials within the Presidency.
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