By DADA AYOKHAI
The mudslinging has started in earnest ahead of the upcoming September governorship election in Edo State.
The opposition party in Edo State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has recently and suddenly discovered that the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Guber candidate, Bar Asuen Ighodalo has a Yoruba name Akintunde as a middle name .
Some unofficial APC members immediately took to their Facebook and Instagram accounts to hype the discovery probably hoping to use the discovery to persuade the people the PDP candidate was not a true Esan man.
However, the excitement seems to have short-lived.
Akintunde is considered a typical Yoruba name.
According to the APC’s interpretation, the revelation that Ighodalo has a Yoruba name suggests that he is not a true son of Esan and should be rejected at the polls.
Political pundits quickly condemned the APC’s claim, pointing to former Edo State Governor, Prof. Ambrose Alli, whose middle name, Folorunsho, is also a Yoruba name.
It is suggested that if there were no criticisms of the Ambrose Alli episode before and after his tenure, why should that of Asue Ighodalo is being blown out of proportion?
Rev. Felix Umoru, a prominent member of the Edo PDP, shed light on the origin of Asue Ighodalo’s Yoruba middle name, Akintunde.
Rev. Umoru disclosed that Asue’s mother’s maiden name was Fiola Akintunde. After getting married, she changed her name to Fiola Akintunde-Ighodalo, which is how the name has remained to this day.
Rev. Umoru also mentioned that he resided with the Ighodalo family in the university town of Agbowo in the 1990s, which is now part of Ibadan, Oyo State.
To set the record straight, Rev. Umoru confirmed that Asue Ighodalo’s full name is Asuerime Akintunde Ighodalo and emphasized that he was well-acquainted with his parents.
