Ondo 2024: APC Denies Giving Aiyedatiwa Automatic Ticket

Ahead of November 16, 2024 governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied granting Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa an automatic ticket for the upcoming governorship election in Ondo State.

APC, however, has ruled out the possibility of Aiyedatiwa becoming APC’s automatic candidate for the election, stating that he must earn it at the party’s primary election coming up in a few months.

Speaking while appearing live on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Thursday, APC national spokesman Felix Morka, emphasized that the party upholds democratic principles, and therefore, any individual seeking nomination must merit it.

When asked whether the APC would give Aiyedatiwa the right of first refusal ahead of the party’s primary for the November poll, Morka said, “We have not had that discussion but we are a democratic party, we are a progress party; we don’t give anything to people; people have to justify and earn it.

“And it is not to us they have to justify their suitability, their qualification, or criteria, it is to the people of the state who are our members, who would participate in the direct or indirect primary.”

“Whatever preference anyone may have, it is all subject to the democratic decision of the party members who will participate in our primaries.

“We don’t give free gifts in APC; we contest and we compete and we win whatever it is we can get in terms of representation.”

Morka also said he can’t pre-empt whether the governorship ticket would be zoned in Ondo or not. “We are yet to engage on zoning. We will explain to the people if and when we do that,” he said.