Zacheaus Akinlose, a chieftain of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) has blamed Eyitayo Jegede, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Agboola Ajayi, Deputy Governor of Ondo state for the massive votes garnered by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in the just concluded governorship election in Ondo state.

Akeredolu, who won 15 of the 18 Local Government Areas in the state polled 292,830 votes  as against Jegede who garnered 195,791 votes.

Agboola Ajayi, candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and deputy governor of the state, came a distant third with 69,217 votes.

Speaking with our correspondent, Akinlose said it is wrong for people to claim  that Ajayi’s low votes in the election is a testament that he overrated himself that he was popular and can defeat Akeredolu in the election.

According to him, few days to the election, having realised that Jegede and Ajayi are unwilling to enter into an alliance, many ZLP supporters who moved out of APC to PDP and ZLP returned to their original party and voted for Akeredolu.

” Sincerely speaking, I put the blame on Jegede and Ajayi. I can categorically say that they handed over the victory to Akeredolu on a platter of gold”.

” Look at a Jegede that rode on Mimiko’s popularity in 2016, he thinks he has now arrived and can defeat an incumbent governor on his own. Also look at Ajayi, you jumped from APC to PDP and then ZLP and in one month you want to win governorship election. Let’s be realistic, can ZLP defeat APC in an election?”.

“Ajayi got 69,000 votes in the election but I believe he would have gotten more votes if he had entered into alliance with Jegede. Few days to the election, many of his supporters who left APC with him to ZLP returned to the party and voted for Akeredolu. They said they will rather vote for the governor who stands a high chance of winning rather than waste their votes on ZLP” he said.

Source:- Independent ng