ADEGOKE ADETOYE, AKURE
As political parties brace up for the 2016 governorship election in Ondo State, the PDP in the state said it had not decided on which zone should produce its governorship candidate. The party also said its standardbearer for the election would be decided by the people of the state.
The party’s spokesman in the state, Prince Banji Okunomo, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Akure, said the priority of the party was to shop for a trusted, credible and sellable candidate with encouraging political clout that would enhance the chances of the party at the poll. Okunomo emphasised that the party had not zoned the governorship slot as being speculated in some quarters.
He also said that the party might jettison the zoning arrangement in its quest to shop for a credible candidate for the election. “Our resolution and determination is to produce a credible and sellable candidate as the party’s standard bearer for the election. In doing so, we may be compelled to contravene the zoning formula if we discover that the candidate that will do us good during the election is from the North, Central or Southern Senatorial District. We will have no option than to pick such a person,” Okunomo said.
The PDP spokesman, however, assured that the party’s candidate would emerge through an open primary devoid of manipulation and imposition. He was optimistic that the PDP would excel at the poll and hold on to power beyond 2017.
He said the priority of the party was to enthrone a people-oriented government that would sustain its current platform in the state and preserve the legacies put in place by the Mimiko-led government