Disquiet in Ondo constituency over bid to replace minister at Reps

Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo

There has been controversy in the Akoko Northeast/Northwest Federal Constituency in Ondo State over the candidate to replace the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, at the House of Representatives.

Tunji-Ojo represented the constituency in the House of Reps before he was appointed as a minister by President Bola Tinubu.

His seat was later declared vacant by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbass, following his appointment as a minister.

It was gathered that the former lawmaker, contrary to the zoning arrangement in his constituency, was reelected due to his performance during his first time in office.

The reelection of Tunji-Ojo was the first time since the beginning of the present political dispensation in 1999 when a member of the House of Representatives would be reelected for a second term in office.

Between 1999 and 2003, Busari Dada from Akoko Northeast Local Government Area was elected under the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) into the National Assembly.

He was replaced by Prince Lanre Adeyemi from Irun-Akoko in the Akoko Northwest LGA after losing his reelection bid even though the AD gave him a return ticket for a second term.

Adeyemi was defeated by Gbenga Elegbeleye who represented the federal constituency between 2007 and 2011.

Efforts by Elegbeleye to get reelected also failed even though he got the ticket of the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Elegbeleye was defeated by Ganny Dauda of the Labour Party (LP) from the Akoko Northwest Local Government Area.

Dauda, who was in the National Assembly between 2011 and 2015, did not seek reelection.

He paved the way for Stephen Olemija from Ikare-Akoko in Akoko Northeast LGA between 2015 and 2019 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Although Olemija wanted to seek reelection under the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), he was defeated by Tunji-Ojo who was in the House of Reps between 2019 and 2023, breaking the jinx of reelection in the federal constituency.

However, his victory was short-lived as the former lawmaker was appointed as a minister, leaving the seat vacant for either a representative from Akoko Northeast or Akoko Northwest.

The aspirants from Akoko Northwest have argued that since the senator for Ondo North Senatorial District is from Ikare-Akoko in Akoko Northeast, it is their turn to produce Tunji’s successor.

However, the aspirants from Akoko Northwest believe that the senatorial seat is for six local governments while the House of Representatives seat is strictly an arrangement between two local governments.

The aspirants from the two major political parties – the PDP and APC – have since been pushing for separate arguments on which local government should present the candidate to replace Tunji-Ojo in the National Assembly.

The Star