Ahead of the governorship election of Ondo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said its major hurdle is getting back to power from the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. 

Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the chair of the PDP’s Primary Election Committee, disclosed this on Thursday at the party’s ongoing primary in Akure. 

“The problem of our party is how to get the power back from the APC that had been taken power from us for the past eight years,” Mr Ewhrudjakpo said.

Seven governorship aspirants are participating in the PDP’s shadow election at the International Cultural and Event Centre, DOME, in Akure.  The party’s aspirants, Agboola Ajayi, Adeolu Akinwumi, Olusola Ebiseni, Bamidele Akingboye, Kolade Akinjo, Bosun Arebuwa and John Mafo, 

Earlier, the aspirants had been cleared by the party’s screening committee, led by Senator Sam Egwu, to take part in the primary, as they locked horns in a bid to secure the PDP ticket.

Six hundred twenty-seven delegates from the 18 LGAs are participating in the exercise, which will determine the fate of the governorship aspirants.

Mr Ewhrudjakpo said the committee is ready to conduct a transparent and credible primary that the aspirants will accept. He explained that the opposition party decided to adopt the indirect mode for the ongoing primary according to the Electoral Act 2022. 

He said, “So, we are prepared and the aspirants are in high spirits and they have assured me that they would agree to work together for whoever emerged as the candidate.

“We expect a very transparent, free, fair, credible and rancor-free election and I have gotten the commitment of all the aspirants that they would abide by the outcome and we are going to make it as transparent as possible.”

Mr Ewhrudjakpo, however, promised to ensure that the primary leads to victory for the opposition party in the November governorship election.