Victor Ogunje in Ad Ekiti
A prominent group within the caucus of the Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC), Ekiti Kete Good Citizens’ Association, has warned that the party may end up losing the next election if the primary is skewed in favour of any aspirant.
It warned that the primary is purely an internal affairs of the Ekiti APC, calling those from outside to eschew interference that may destroy the party’s cohesiveness through unwarranted imposition.
The group insisted that the APC must look for credible way to elect its candidate through the primary, so that all the aspirants, numbering 35 can be on the same page to prosecute the election.
It spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday while interacting at different sections with some APC governorship aspirants, including an ex-speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Femi Bamisile, an Ado Ekiti-based medical practitioner, Dr. Bayo Orire and former Commissioner for Commerce, Chief Sesan Fatoba.
Speaking through its President, Hon. Ayodeji Babatola, the group clarified that the interactions were windows of opportunities for the aspirants to tell the delegates what they have in stocks for the populace if elected governor.
Babatola vehemently disowned the media report that the group had been canvassing for zoning, saying “on free, fair, credible and acceptable primary we standâ€,
The President added further: “APC can’t afford to toy with its chances in the next election. The electorate are patiently waiting for us and the way our candidate emerges would help them in forming opinions about the credibility of the person we are to work for.
“We are democrats and the essence of democracy is for the party to embrace popular opinion through the ballot. The process we believe in is transparent primary where delegates will speak through their votes and whoever loses out will know he has to prepare for another time.
“We are not oblivious of the fact that consensus provides a leeway for imposition and that we reject wholesomely. As far as this group and the entire APC is concerned, on credible primary we stand and nothing can change thatâ€, he said.
Babatola lauded the aspirants for espousing their manifestoes which they thought would transform Ekiti if given the opportunity to serve.
“When you espouse your manifestoes, all the aspirants can borrow ideas from each other, so that our party can have a strong blueprint for Ekiti after winning the election, this is the essence of these interactionsâ€.
During the session, ex-Speaker Bamisile said his government will invest heavily on human capital development by providing civil service and private jobs for the youth to make them productive.
Former Commissioner and retired Permanent Secretary, Fatoba, promised to retool the state civil service and strengthen it to be able to be good vehicle that can help the political class to convert their dream to reality in terms of policy formulation and implementation.
Orire said he would transform the state’s tourism potentials, particularly the Efon rolling hills into a world class religious tourism to earn the state foreign exchange like the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca and Israel.
