As Ondo State prepares for its governorship primaries on Saturday, an aspirant under the All Progressives Congress, Wale Akinterinwa, has expressed confident that other aspirants will step down for him to emerge victorious.
He said it would not be a surprise to see other aspirants step down for him to become the prime candidate for the party.
He stated this in Ile-Oluji Okegbo/Ile-Oluji Local Government Area of the state while fielding questions from newsmen during interface with the party’s leaders and members.
He also disclosed that some governorship aspirants were already reaching out to him and they could begin to step down for him on the Saturday primary, according to the Independent.
Akinterinwa, who was welcome by people of the town in their thousands, appreciated the support of the people, describing them as being sincere in their expressions and attitudes.
He said: “The people were enthusiastic, and one thing is obvious: you can see that they see us as the alternative, the change they desire.
“I want to believe what I saw on their part was sincerity; they want a new person. They want somebody knowledgeable, somebody who has the capacity, somebody who has been around long enough, somebody whom they know and who they know has been in government, somebody they can fraternise with.
“I could see that the warmth that exuded from them was palpable; you could feel it. When we go out, we don’t take crowds from one local government to the other. So, our crowd is organic; it is within that environment. I believe the state is ready for us, and they want us.
“I expect that on Saturday, we will come out as the winners of the primaries, by the grace of God. I won’t be surprised if aspirants start stepping down for me. Some of them (aspirants) are reaching out to me.”
“I expect that the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo, I don’t know him, but I believe he is a man of integrity, a man who has capacity. Obviously, for choosing him to come and conduct the election here (Ondo State), the party hierarchy must know that he is capable of doing a good job.
“I expect that we will have a level playing field and that we will have free and fair primaries, hitch-free, even though people are still a bit skeptical due to certain things.
“But all I know is that despite some of these obstacles, I’ll surmount them and come out victorious.
“The party has a structure, and we already have an acting national chairman. I believed that the people coming to conduct the primaries were also members of the party and had an understanding of their role.”