The major political parties in Ondo State are having their gubernatorial primaries on April 20 and 25. This is a fierce battle between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Except for one female candidate from the APC, Mrs. Funmi Waheed-Adekojo, all the candidates are from the Ondo South senatorial region. There could be internal conflicts if the exercise is not properly managed for the 16 APC candidate.
Many of them are experienced and have run for the position before. The APC is using direct primaries to choose its candidate.
In the PDP, which used indirect primaries, some of the 7 candidates are considered serious contenders, while others are just pretenders. The APC is known to have pretenders who will try to get political jobs by competing for the governorship.
The opposition PDP wants to surprise the ruling APC, but the APC is determined to hold on to power. 21 candidates have obtained nomination forms from the two parties, and the parties have made over N1 billion from selling these forms. The PDP got N259 million from 7 candidates, while the APC got N750 million from 16 candidates.
Only the APC and PDP have submitted their candidates for screening, even though 19 political parties have notified the electoral commission of their primaries. The other 17 parties’ candidates are still unclear.
The APC candidates who obtained the N50 million nomination forms include the incumbent governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and several other experienced politicians. The forms are free for female candidates, but the expression of interest form costs N10 million.