TheCable

At exactly 12:48am on Sunday, Mohammed Abubakar, Jigawa state governor and chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) election committee in Ondo state, declared Rotimi Akeredolu as the party’s candidate for the November 26 poll.

Akeredolu, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), contested the 2012 governorship election on the platform of the Action Congress Nigeria (ACN).

He polled a total of 699 votes in Saturday’s keenly contested exercise.

Olusegun Abraham, the preferred candidate of Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos, came next to Akeredolu with 635 votes, while Olusola Oke, also a lawyer, came third with 536 votes.

Ajayi Boroffice, senator representing Ondo north, came fourth with 471 votes.

Twenty-four aspirants contested the poll but Paul Akintelure later stepped down, even though he managed to secure one vote in the exercise.

A total of 2,774 voters were accredited for the election.

The emergence of Akeredolu has opened a fresh chapter in Ondo APC, which had been embroiled in controversies in the last few weeks.

The alleged attempt to impose a candidate created rancour, but all that is expected to be addressed in the coming days.