The former factional governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Jimoh Ibrahim, has described his legal battle to emerge as the party’s governorship candidate as a ploy to stop Governor Segun Mimiko from helping Eyitayo Jegede win the Ondo gubernatorial election.
Jimoh Ibrahim was earlier declared as the PDP candidate for the Ondo state poll by the Federal High Court.
But the Court of Appeal sacked Ibrahim as the party’s candidate and ordered that Mr. Ibrahim be replaced with Eyitayo Jegede, who belongs to the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the party.
Jimoh, in a new footage which emerged on Friday, November 25, said all the legal drama that characterised the PDP in Ondo state was a plot by him to frustrate Mimiko and waste the time of Jegede.
He said: “Election will be held on Saturday. No matter what they do, it’s gone. Mimiko is just wasting his time. There’s nothing he can do.
“I decided deliberately lock him up and waste his time for three weeks…took him out the state, destabilized him.
“Now I have released him…two days to the election. He is dancing naked,” Ibrahim said while smiling.
Meanwhile, the political tension in Ondo state has escalated following a threat by a group, the Alliance for Democracy Renewal Group (ADRG) to attack officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group, in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Tunde Aderemi on Friday, November 25, alleged that INEC had concluded plans to manipulate the electoral process in favour of the candidate of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) – Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).
According to Vanguard, it called on the people of Ondo state to protect their votes even if it entailed shedding the blood of the INEC officers, a call – it said – is an act of “patriotism”.
VIDEO: I Decided To Lock Segun Mimiko Outside of Ondo State For Three Weeks With Legal Woes -Jimoh Ibrahim @JimohIbrahimOFR #OndoDecides pic.twitter.com/QrtgPMn0uD
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) November 25, 2016