Ondo PDP Primaries: Know the aspirants

The gubernatorial battle among aspirants in the opposition, People's Democratic Party, is getting tougher as the governorship primary approaches.

The PDP primary election in the state which is slated to take place on Wednesday, July 22, at the Dome Centre, Akure, to be chaired by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, will be for Agboola and seven other politicians.

The PDP primary aspirants are:

1. Deputy governor Agboola Ajayi

Ajayi has served in various capacities in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and presently the PDP. He was the chairman of Ese-Odo local government area before being elected into the House of Representatives to represent Ilaje/Ese-Odo federal constituency.

The deputy governor was also the chairman of the House committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2007 and 2010.

2. Eyitayo Jegede Having emerged the winner of the PDP primary in 2016, Jegede is one of the very popular aspirants in the party vying for the position.

The aspirant is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) from Ipele town, Ondo and was appointed in 2009 as the attorney-general and commissioner for justice in the state.

3. Boluwaji Kunlere Kunlere hails from Igbotako in Okitipupa local government area of Ondo and is a lawyer and a former senator representing Ondo South, Kunlere.

Although Kunlere contested Senate seat for Ondo South in 2007 under the Labour Party, he lost.

He was also a special adviser to a former governor, Olusegun Mimiko, on political affairs and legal matters and was later elected as a senator in 2011 on the platform of the Labour Party.

Fact check: How true is the claim that Ogun guber election should be declared inconclusive? 4. Ben Okunomo An indigene of Ilaje, Okunomo later emerged the chairman of the same local government area and was also the former spokesman of the PDP in Ondo.

5. Eddy Olafeso What is in the public domain about the political profile of Olafeso is quite brief. He served as a staunch member of the PDP.

Olafeso was the vice national chairman (south-west) in the PDP elective convention of 2017.

6. Sola Ebiseeni Ebiseni is a human rights activist, lawyer, politician who represented Ondo at the World Conference of Local Authorities in Oslo Norway, 1991.

7. Bode Ayorinde Ayorinde was a member of the 8th House of Representatives, representing Owo/Ose constituency.

8. Godday Erewa is an industrialist from Ilaje. Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that aspirants vying for the PDP ticket had accused Ajayi of doctoring delegates' list to be used for the party's primary election.

The deputy governor is facing tough hurdles to secure the PDP ticket after pulling out of the APC in what climaxed the feud between him and his estranged principal, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.