{"id":1255,"date":"2026-04-15T14:59:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:59:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:59:56","slug":"2027-ex-ondo-deputy-gov-joins-senate-race-states-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/2027-ex-ondo-deputy-gov-joins-senate-race-states-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"2027: Ex-Ondo Deputy Gov Joins Senate Race, States Reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

A former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Ajayi Agboola, has joined the race to represent the people of the southern senatorial district in the Senate .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He positioned himself as the most experienced and widely accepted candidate to represent the district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajayi, who also served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2007 and 2011, made the declaration while addressing journalists in Akure, outlining a long political career that spans grassroots leadership to national politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the his decision followed extensive consultations with key stakeholders, traditional rulers, party leaders, and the state leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he had traversed the political landscape from councillor, local government chairman, party secretary, to Deputy Governor and member of the National Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajayi strongly anchored his ambition on the agitation for zoning within Ondo South, arguing that his local government has yet to produce a senator in the current democratic dispensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He maintained that political equity demands that the senatorial slot be ceded to his constituency in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOut of the six local governments in Ondo South, mine is the only one that has not produced a senator. By all political calculations and fairness, it is our turn,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the reported exit of the current senator, Ajayi called for political maturity and continuity, suggesting that the existing arrangement should be respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He revealed that he had personally consulted with Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, dismissing claims of political rift between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI met him one-on-one. He told me himself that I am the most qualified among those aspiring. We are not enemies; political differences do not make us adversaries,\u201d Ajayi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that he is not interested in any impending by-election, stressing that his focus remains firmly on the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe party has guidelines\u2014consensus where possible, and if not, primaries. No single individual can impose a candidate. That is not possible in Ondo State,\u201d he added<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also distanced himself from alleged APC factions, describing himself as a neutral stakeholder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t belong to any group. I belong to the party and the people. At my level, I should be a unifying figure, not a factional politician,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reacting to claims that former members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may struggle to secure APC tickets, Ajayi dismissed the argument, emphasizing his political strength and grassroots appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy name is a household name in Ondo State. Politics is about individuals and popularity, not just party labels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSenate Is Not for Learners\u201d
Ajayi stressed that the Senate requires experienced and competent lawmakers, warning against electing candidates without the necessary exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Senate is not a place for trial and error. It requires people who understand governance, legislation, and national dynamics,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajayi also claimed he outperformed many past representatives from the district, citing key infrastructure projects he facilitated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them, he listed the installation of a 132KV electricity substation that improved power supply in Ondo South, as well as major road and bridge projects linking the region to neighbouring Delta State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lamented that many of the projects were abandoned after his tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI laid the foundation for major development projects, but they were not completed. That is why I want to return\u2014to finish what I started,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With his declaration, the race for the Ondo South Senatorial seat in 2027 is expected to intensify, as political alignments and zoning debates begin to shape the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He maintained that political equity demands that the senatorial slot be ceded to his local government in 2027 just as zoning arrangement foreclosed an Apoi person of the Ese-Odo to contest House of Assembly election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Ajayi Agboola, has joined the race to represent the people of the southern senatorial district in the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1257,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions\/1257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepublicsquare.com.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}