Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has asked Nigerians not to vote for any candidate with a “dubious character” in the 2023 presidential election. 

The Ondo governor urged the electorates to dig into the antecedents of the prominent presidential candidates jostling to rule the country. 

“Anyone who exhibits any shred of doubt should be rejected roundly,” Mr Akeredolu said on Friday at a dinner in Ibadan, Oyo.

He added; “The antecedents of prominent candidates in the forthcoming presidential elections, and even all elections, should be evidence of capacity. The manifesto belongs, largely, to the party. 

“All those who do not wish to be ruled by persons of dubious character should endeavour to be active in the days ahead.”

Mr Akeredolu, who doubles as chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, is a supporter of Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Tinubu, a former Lagos governor, had been enmeshed in corruption allegations with dubious proceeds, just as speculations continue to trail his alleged age falsification. 

Being a political ally, Mr Akeredolu was appointed in September as the Zonal Coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in the South-West. 

In November 2020, Peoples Gazette ran a series of damning reports on Mr Tinubu’s corrupt enrichment through the questionable Lagos tax infrastructure and Alpha Beta, syphoning billions of naira to shell companies.

The Gazette had also published bank documents that showed how Alpha-Beta moved the questionable funds it received from the Lagos government into other companies linked to the APC presidential candidate, including broadcaster TVC and Lagos metro bus providers. 

Speaking further, Mr Akeredolu charged Nigerians to use their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to vote for the candidate of their choice in the 2023 election.  

He said the people must also actively participate in the electioneering process by ensuring that the right candidate emerged. 

“Let all those with their PVCs vote for candidates of their choice. All candidates should be put to the strictest proof of their claims.

“We must do more than criticism in the next elections or be ready to be ruled by those with no enviable pedigree. We must participate or be damned,” Mr Akeredolu added.  

Noting that some of the candidates were playing the religious and ethnic cards, the governor stated that competence and integrity should be the criteria for representation. 

He stressed that the recent debate on representation on account of faith was unnecessary.

“In the same vein, we must be wary of the antics of the cunning and deceitful who may wish to exploit the challenges to advance their destructive designs,” he added. 

Mr Akeredolu said that, “In as much as we encourage full participation of Christians in politics, our involvement must not be used to create disaffection among the various ethnic and religious groups in the country.

“We must resist the attempts by some elements to use religion to perpetuate the crisis.

“The recent debate on representation on account of faith is most unnecessary. Competence and integrity should be the criteria for representation.”