Ondo Poll: Group Fires Senator Tofowomo Over Comments On Jegede

By Niyi Olutunde, Akure

A group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, ‘The Peoples Advocate’, has criticised the senator representing Ondo South Senatorial district, Nicholas Tofowomo, who accused the party’s governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede of being “the architect of his own defeat” in the October 10, 2020 governorship election.

Recall that Tofowomo recently criticised the PDP governorship candidate, alleging that he was responsible for the defeat of the party in the last governorship election.

But the group, ‘The Peoples Advocate’ in a statement made available to journalists on Friday by its President, Isaiah Owolabi, and Secretary, Bosede Tanimola, said Tofowomo’s accusations reeked of malice, political vendetta and an hatchet job.

Disputing the senator’s claims that Jegede caused ‘his defeat’ at last year’s governorship election, the group said, “It is unfortunate that a PDP senator is being used to do an hatchet job by the ruling party, at a time the party is at the election petitions tribunal, to reclaim its mandate.”

According to the group, all the “salacious tales on Jegede, told to the media by Senator Tofowomo were concocted lies, meant only to fulfill his malice, political vendetta and the hatchet job he had been procured to deliver.

“Ordinarily, one should have ignored Tofowomo, knowing his type; but when lies go unchallenged, they tend to become the truth.

“The senator appears to be entangled in his treacherous character profile; combining malice, political vendetta and the play of Judas.

“Tofowomo has never hidden his disdain and personal hatred for Jegede, who against his expectation, emerged as PDP governorship candidate in 2016. He, then, was shocked to the marrows.

“Again, in the 2020 PDP governorship primary election, Tofowomo deliberately supported a weak Southern candidate to give the impression that he’s committed to southern agenda, but his real motive was getting support for second term ticket.

“For a senator who claimed to have employed 100 persons, who also were all party delegates, to see his preferred candidate score less than 90 votes, only showed how ‘popular’ he was with his employees,” the group scoffed.

The group added that for Tofowomo’s candidate to score less than 90 votes in the Ondo South district of six local government areas that produced 700 delegates, spoke volume of “his so-called popularity”.

On Tofowomo’s claim that he wanted to shepherd Jegede to 15 PDP governors to collect campaign funds but which the latter failed to join in, the group said the senator actually stood the truth on the head.

“He was the one who, on his own, went round collecting money from the governors, and which he pocketed,” the group claimed.

“Tofowomo’s voyage of perversive attacks on Jegede was only to act out the hatchet job he had been hired to do, in the light of the fact that Jegede is challenging the results of the last election at the tribunal.

“The fact before the court cannot be determined by his beer parlour comments at this stage. He claimed that Jegede did not support him financially when he was contesting; well, he is left with his conscience. And if that was his reason for the unprovoked attacks on Jegede, it would have been better.

“But it’s clear that it is a calculated attempt to project a different image of Jegede in the public perception, knowing that the man has high integrity and unassailable grounds to pursue his petitions at the tribunal,” the group countered.