Ondo state governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa at the weekend said he is optimistic in picking the party’s ticket in the coming governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Aiyedatiwa spoke at a strategic meeting of officials and other members of Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers (LACO-FS) in Akure, the state capital.
A statement by the LACO-FS State Director of Information, Mr. Kayode Fasua, quoted the governor as saying “my supporters should continue working and never doubt as my coming victory in the primary and general elections is the promise of God.”
He described his predecessor, the late former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as a prophet, who foresaw that he would succeed him as the next governor of Ondo State.
“This (my emergence as governor) is what my late boss, Governor Akeredolu wanted. A lot of people don’t really know Akeredolu, they don’t know that he was a prophet.
“There was a time after he (Akeredolu) returned from a medical vacation that he told the cabinet members during an executive council meeting that ‘Look, Aiyedatiwa will emerge as the next governor,” he recalled.
Aiyedatiwa said his ambition to contest for governor beyond the mandate of his joint ticket with the late Akeredolu was not a tour de force but a sincere mission to transform Ondo State and uplift the standard of living of its people.
The LACO-FS Convener, Dr. Oladipupo Okeyomi, during the occasion said over 250,000 campaigners code-named ‘Foot Soldiers’ had been positioned across the 18 local government areas of Ondo State, to secure victory for Aiyedatiwa.
Okeyomi however, condemned some of the governorship aspirants “who turned the burial event of the late former Governor Akeredolu to a campaign ground where they were sharing money”.
Also, LACO-FS Co-convener, Prince Biyi Poroye, said that “Aiyedatiwa is the choice of the masses in Ondo State, having achieved so much within a short period of assuming office as governor
The director-general of the group, Mr. Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, said the LACO-FS was set to tour all the local government areas starting from the coming week to mid-March, with Governor Aiyedatiwa leading in the campaigns.
Aiyedatiwa was decorated as ‘Field Marshall ‘ of the LACO-FS, along with the unveiling of fez caps, aprons, t-shirts and other campaign wears and tools.