Tinubu didn’t impose me as governorship aspirant — Abraham

PETER DADA

One of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State, Dr. Segun Abraham, has denied being imposed on the party by the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Abraham was reported to have been imposed on the party by Tinubu as the candidate of the APC at the November 26 governorship election in the state.

The APC aspirant who spoke on Adaba FM, Akure, on Saturday said other aspirants were against him because they knew they would lose the primary.

“The national leader was accused of imposing me on the party; I was not imposed – endorsement is different from imposition. Those who regard the two as the same do not know what they are saying. The national leader only said I am a preferred aspirant that could deliver the state for the APC in the coming election.

“There will be a primary and delegates know who they will vote for and who can win election for the party. I have met the delegates and they have assured me that they are for me. If we hold the primary today, I shall have nothing less than 85 per cent of their votes,” Abraham stated.

Commenting on the verbal and media attacks on Tinubu over his endorsement, the governorship aspirant said aspirants attacking Tinubu were ungrateful, pointing out that many of them are beneficiaries of the party leader’s influence.

According to him, Tinubu helped Rotimi Akeredolu to emerge as the candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in the 2013 governorship election in Ondo State.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Ondo state, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), has promised to introduce a “friendly tax regime” if elected.

Jegede, who spoke with journalists in Akure on Saturday, said the state was economically challenged, adding that his government would adopt a friendly measure to make people pay their dues to encourage government to serve them well.

He said, “To tax people is not an easy task. But then, if the National Union of Road Transport Workers and Okada riders can collect money and you see them, driving jeeps with ‘Tokyo One’ as the plate number or ‘Okada One,’ it is because they have a little bit friendly way of collecting taxes. Friendly in the sense that the money they pay is small and they also have effective ways of enforcing its collection, because they have people who do that.”

“My position is that, make the tax minimal so that it can be a little bit friendly. And you don’t have to wait to collect taxes once in a year; you can do it every month; you can do it every quarter; and you can make it as small as possible to encourage positive response.”

Punch