State Assembly Election is a Two-horse Race in Ondo

Fidelis David reports that out of the  10, 231 candidates vying for 993 State Assembly seats across Nigeria, electorate in Ondo, the sunshine State, will again file out on March 1, 2023 to elect 26 members for the state House of Assembly.

Ondo is one of the eight states where  governorship election will not hold on Saturday because the incumbent Governor, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) will complete his second term in office in 2024. However, the electorate in the State are already warming up to storm the 3,933 polling units and 203 political wards across the 18 local government areas of the state, where they will cast their votes for the candidates of their choice.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) put the total number of registered voters in Ondo State at slightly above two million. Findings show that only 1,991,344  permanent voters cards (PVCs) had been produced for the state.

Out of these, over 1,729,641 representing 86.9 percent had been collected and over 261,981 were uncollected. The voters are spread across the 203 wards in the 18 local council areas and 3,933 polling booths in the state.

In 2019, the APC won 23 seats in the Assembly, the opposition PDP won only two seats, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) got the remaining one seat, while the ruling APC lost the state to the opposition PDP during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

In 2023, it is worthy to note that the other  political parties also have candidates for the assembly elections, but political pundits and residents of the state believe that only the candidates of the two dominant parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) – will be the main contenders for the 26 seats in the state Assembly.

Don’t forgot that the president-elect, who was the Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress,  Bola Tinubu, defeated the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar with 246,477 votes in the February 25 Presidential election in the state.

Tinubu cleared all the 18 council areas of the state, polling 361,944 votes as against Atiku’s 115,467 votes and the Labour Party in the third position with 47,350 votes. Also, the African Democratic Party got 5,612 votes.

Prof. Abayomi Fashina, the Returning Officer in the state for the Presidential Election, who is also the Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, while announcing the result, disclosed that 571,402 voters were accredited, 570,017 votes were cast, while 19,009 votes were rejected.

Also, the APC  won all the three senatorial seats in the state in a landmark victory, with eight out of the nine House of Representatives slots for the state. Only Festus Akingbaso of the PDP, who is a current member representing Idanre in the state Assembly won the Idanre/Ifedore federal constituency seat.

So, given the dominance of PDP and APC  across state, residents are fixated on the candidates of the parties while they spare little or no attention to the candidates of the other parties.

Out of the total 26 lawmakers that would form the 10th Assembly, only six current lawmakers are re-contesting while the remaining 20 members are new comers.

There is no any female candidate of the PDP for the House of Assembly seat. Theyl candidates include Olajide Oguntodu (Akure constituency 1); Moses Eruebuke (Akure North); Dotun Olorunyomi  (Odigbo constituency 1); Olu Falolu (Odigbo constituency 2) and Adeolu Adeniran (Akure South constituency 2).

Others are : Tomide Akinribido (Ondo West constituency 1); Femi Olafusi (Ondo East Constituency); Oyewole Aderemi (Idanre Constituency), Babatunde Fadare (Ileoluji/Okeigbo),  Ojo Victor (Akoko South East ) and Akintola Olarewaju (Akoko North East constituency)  among others.

The only female lawmaker in the 9th Assembly,  Favour Tomomowo, is now contesting under ADC  to represent Ilaje constituency II.

The ruling APC has four female candidates while the rest 22 are male.  The party’s candidates include, Ololade Gbegudu (Okitipupa Constituency II); Mr. Akintola Olarenwaju (Akoko North East constituency); Akinruntan Abayomi (Ilaje constituency 1); Oluwole Emmanuel Ogunmolasuyi (Owo constituency 1); Emmanuel Gbogi (Akoko South West  1); Simeon Toluwani Borokini (Akure South I), Abitogun Rotimi (Akure South II) and Ologede Kolawole (Akure North).

Others under APC are: Akomolafe Temitope (Ifedore constituency), Ayebusiwa Odunayo (Okitipupa I), Oladapo John Biola (Ondo West II), Fayemi Olawunmi Annah (Ilaje II), Mohammed Taofik Oladele  (Akoko North West II), Allen Messiah Oluwatoyin (Ese odo), Alaye Adesina (Akoko South East), Tiamiyu Fatai Ojara Atere (Akoko North West I),  Japhet Victor Toyin (Akoko North East), Oshati Olatunji Emmanuel (Ose), Ogunwumiju Moyinolofun Taiwo ( Ondo West I), Oladiji Olamide (Ondo East), Ogunlowo Oluwatosin Ajirotutu (Idanre), Akeju Bukunmi (Akoko South West II), Witherspoon Atinuke (Owo II), Ogunlana Christopher (Irele), Ifabiyi Samuel (Odigbo I) and Fasonu Oluwarotin (Odigbo II).

With the performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections, it will be a straight battle between APC and PDP in Ondo State on Saturday.

In Ondo State, since the former Governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko left LP, it  has not been widely visible politically to the residents of the state when compared with the constant engagements of PDP and APC across the 18 council areas of the state.

Suffice to say that come Saturday, the margin between APC and PDP might be close, but indications show that the APC might win, if not all, 24 out of the 26 assembly seats in the state because the candidates and the incumbent governor Akeredolu aren’t leaving any stone unturned in seeking votes from potential voters across the state.