The Ogun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, has said he felt ridiculed contesting against the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the last governorship election in the state, Ademola Adeleke.
Following the election, which was conducted last year, the Supreme Court had few weeks ago affirmed Oyetola as the winner of the contentious election.
However, Oyetola, while speaking when he received the leadership of the Social Democratic Party, SDP-led by Professor Yemi Farounbi, said the PDP governorship candidate should have been screened out of the race.
The governor stated that the lack of control in Nigeria’s electoral system gave Adeleke the opportunity to contest against him.
He said: “The country’s electoral system is weak, especially regarding the screening of candidates, which gave room for somebody like Ademola Adeleke to contest for governorship seat of the state.
“Sometimes when I sit down and realise that I was actually contesting with Adeleke, who is best at dancing, I felt ridiculed, very ridiculed. It would have been a tragedy for our state if the whole thing had turned the other way round.
“Anybody that is seriously concerned about the development of the state would at least be interested in whoever is going to pilot the affairs of the state.
“One wonders why the country’s electoral laws would have allowed that guy to even contest in the first instance. We don’t have control. Even in the north where we believe they’re disadvantaged in terms of education, they put in the best always. See whoever goes for any political office in the North is always the best of their stuck.”
