Gov. Aiyedatiwa Storms Okitipupa to Rally Massive Support for Ex-NMA Chief Francis Faduyile Ahead of Saturday’s High-Stakes Senatorial Battle

The political atmosphere across the coastal fringes of Ondo State has locked into a high-intensity gear after Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa led a massive campaign sweep to rally unconditional support for the former President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Francis Faduyile, ahead of Saturday’s crucial by-election.

The high-stakes executive mobilization unzipped during an expansionist stakeholders’ rally held in Okitipupa, the commercial nerve center of the Ondo South Senatorial District. The aggressive campaign blitz stands out as a highly defining moment on the state’s 2026 political calendar, arriving precisely on the eve of the legislative ballot ordered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fill critical parliamentary vacancies.

The territorial vacuum at the Red Chamber was initialized following the structural exit of the former representative, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, who vacated his legislative seat to accept a high-profile diplomatic deployment from the presidency as a permanent country representative at the United Nations.

To maintain its absolute layout dominance at the National Assembly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) high command has fielded Prof. Francis Faduyile—a trusted medical administrator and grassroots mobilizer—to square off against heavy opposition contenders from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party.

Delivering an uncompromising political brief to an enthusiastic crowd of party stalwarts, transport unions, and traditional rulers, Governor Aiyedatiwa maintained that the outcome of Saturday’s ballot extends far beyond localized representation, framing it as a vital defensive shield for the central administration’s macro-economic blueprints.

“We are not here to play passive politics; we are here to secure the future of our district and back a man with an impeccable manual of service,” Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa declared with absolute candor during his address. “Prof. Francis Faduyile represents the exact caliber of intellectual powerhouse we need in the Senate to attract federal investments, revamp our rural health architectures, and protect the livelihoods of our people. Securing a landslide victory in this by-election is a direct vote of confidence in the Renewed Hope Agenda of our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We must deliver this seat as an ironclad baseline shield to guarantee our party’s continuous dominance ahead of the 2027 national transition.”

The ruling party’s local calculation fields have received an immense structural boost following unprecedented political alignments across the state.

Just days before the final campaign window closed, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Taiwo Fasoranti, alongside the political heavyweight and former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, formally collapsed their opposition structures to switch allegiance to the APC camp, heavily tipping the subnational balance of power in favor of Faduyile’s candidacy.

Concurrently, local security architectures have initialized strict perimeter deployment scripts across the local government borders.

With INEC confirming that all sensitive voting materials and electronic accreditation logs have been securely dispatched to the regional registration hubs, the immense wave of high-profile alignments proves that the battle to control Ondo South’s legislative destiny will serve as the definitive dress rehearsal for the state’s upcoming political cycles.