A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Ebiseni has appealed to party leaders and stakeholders in the state to pursue peace and unity among themselves.
Ebiseni in a statement in Akure said this is “the only route to the realisation of their individual and collective aspirations.
According to him, the party should remain indivisible.
He however denied collecting money from Eyitayo Jegede during the 2019 National Assembly primary in which he was an aspirant.
Recall that a Senator representing Ondo South in the state, Nicholas Tofowomo had in an interview recently in Akure said that he, Ebiseni, and Engr Ademulegun were given N250,000 each by Eyitayo Jegede during the primary election.
Denying this, Ebiseni who was a former commissioner in the same cabinet with Jegede and Tofowomo in the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko said “l had no cause to make such a request, particularly to a colleague with whom I had just then been locked in a gubernatorial contest as opponents.
According to him the senator’s reasons that the party allegedly lost the 2020 Ondo State gubernatorial election needed some clarification from him.
“It was insinuated that the three of us who took part in the PDP primary for the Ondo South Senatorial ticket in the 2019 National Assembly elections, which Senator Tofowomo eventually won, were given some money by Mr. Eyitayo Jegede SAN, the party’s Governorship candidate in the last year’s gubernatorial election.
“ln, the words of Senator Nicholas Tofowomo “The day of the primary election, they called me that Jegede was giving me money, when I got there he gave me N250,000. The way he gave me that money was the way he gave other aspirants.
“Three of us were aspirants. That primary election was tough. I had 238 votes. Engr Ademulegun had 218 votes and Ebiseni had 177 votes. I won with only 17 votes. It was very tight”
“l called the Senator immediately I read the statement, who confirmed making it in the belief that it was true. He regrettably appealed to me for the wrong insinuations.
“I then resolved to let it be because of my firm belief that the challenges facing our party now, the height of which is the party’s case at the Election Tribunal, call for unity of all sides.
“However, I have been inundated with several calls from both political and nonpolitical quarters, obviously because of the wide reach of the primary medium of publication and the extensive reproduction of same by the ubiquitous social media.
“Hence the need to state, even if for the records, that I never approached Eyitayo Jegede SAN for any financial assistance whatsoever, he never gave me a dime and I had no cause also to make such a request, particularly to a colleague with whom I had just then been locked in a gubernatorial contest as opponents.
“Notwithstanding, Eyitayo Jegede SAN, Senator Tofowomo and I were colleagues, as Commissioners, in the Ondo State cabinet and remain brothers.
“May I again use this medium to further appeal to PDP leaders and stakeholders, particularly in our state, to pursue peace and unity among ourselves as the only route to the realisation of our individual and collective aspirations. He said.