No fewer than seven governorship aspirants seeking to become the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Ekiti election have withdrawn from the party’s primary over alleged irregularities on the part of the State Governor, Kayode Fayemi.
The aspirants said that the governor, rather than act neutral on who becomes the party’s flagbearer, Fayemi had an annointed candidate and has manipulated the primary to favour him ahead of others.
They alleged that part of the manipulation strategy adopted by the governor for the exercise on Thursday was to ensure that was the primary election committee members were his loyalists.
Among the aspirants that pulled out of the race was the a senator representing the state, Opeyemi Bamidele, who was a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State.
Other aspirants that have decided to back down on the exercise were Kayode Mojo, Demola Popoola, Femi Bamisile, Bamidele Faparusi, Dayo Adeyeye, and Afolabi Oluwasola
Through a statement made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the aspirants said there is no way the exercise will be fair with the calibre of people sitting on the primary election committees.
They further alleged that Fayemi was making an attempt to foist Biodun Oyebanji, a governorship aspirant, as the party’s governorship standard-bearer in the state.
Part of the statement reads: “The seven aspirants herein received with rude shock and dismay the purported list of the local government election committee and ward election committee made up solely by party members and political appointees that had before now openly endorsed the candidacy of Biodun Oyebanji the immediate past secretary to the state government,” they said.
“It is on record that the government of Governor Kayode Fayemi has given its unwavering support to the candidacy of Biodun Oyebanji, it is common knowledge that the Governor and most appointees of the governor are openly rooting for and supporting Biodun Oyebanji’s aspiration to become the flag bearer of our great party”.
