The All Progressives Congress, APC, has told Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State that there will be no automatic ticket for him.

The APC made the declaration ahead of the November 16, 2024, governorship poll in the state.

APC national spokesman, Felix Morka, made this known on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday.

According to him, the APC is democratic and everyone who desires a nomination must earn it.

When asked whether the APC would give Aiyedatiwa the right of first refusal ahead of the party’s primary for the November poll, Morka said, “We have not had that discussion but we are a democratic party; we are a progress party; we don’t give anything to people; people have to justify and earn it.

“And it is not to us they have to justify their suitability, their qualification, or criteria; it is to the people of the state who are our members, who would participate in the direct or indirect primary.

“Whatever preference anyone may have, it is all subject to the democratic decision of the party members who will participate in our primaries.

“We don’t give free gifts in APC; we contest and we compete and we win whatever it is we can get in terms of representation,” he added.

Morka also said he can’t pre-empt whether the governorship ticket would be zoned in Ondo or not.

“We are yet to engage on zoning. We will explain to the people if and when we do that,” he said.

Aiyedatiwa, formerly Ondo deputy governor, was sworn in as the substantive governor of the South-West state on December 27, 2023, following the death of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has fixed the Ondo State Governorship Poll for November 16, 2024, barring last-minute changes.