The Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has expressed its readiness to participate in the forthcoming local government election in the state.
The state Chairman of the PDP, Mr Fatai Adams, stated this at the party’s secretariat in Akure, on Thursday.
Recall that the Chairman of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission, Prof. Joseph Aremo, had fixed December 16, 2023, for the conduct of the local government poll in the state.
Speaking on Thursday, the PDP chairman, Adams, said the opposition party was ready to participate in the election but warned the ruling All Progressives Congress against manipulating the process.
Adams said the need for the LG poll could not be overemphasised as local governments in Ondo State had become “just salary payment agency of the state government, rather than serving the grassroots as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
He said, “We are assuring the general public that we are prepared to participate in the electoral contest with the fervent hope that the governor and his APC will allow the commission to perform its role without undue interference and interruptions. As a party, we have put the necessary machinery in motion which will culminate in our electoral victory at the polls.
“This resolution is deliberate and we are conscious of the agenda of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to continue to muzzle the local government administrations by foisting his stooges on the people. We can therefore gauge his temperature and the mood of the APC as well as the inconveniences our resolve may cause its members who erroneously see local government as their cash cow, being the reward for their hypocrisy and sycophancy to the governor.
“This time around, the APC will be resisted by the people at the grassroots who have been bearing the brunt of inept, colourless, unenviable, dry and retrogressive governance at that very important layer of government.
“We are, however, using this opportunity to call on the ODIEC to perform its role as an impartial arbiter which should not rob Peter to pay Paul. We are passionately appealing to the chairman and other members of the commission to always act on the side of the people bearing in mind that their commission is being financed by the taxpayers’ money and not from the APC government which merely appointed them.’’
