Following the fallout of the last Thursday’s governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, the seven aggrieved aspirants have revealed that the party would be thought a bitter lesson during the June 18 poll, if it approved the contentious shadow poll.
The aggrieved aspirants, Opeyemi Bamidele, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, Femi Bamisile, Bamidele Faparusi, Kayode Ojo, Demola Popoola and Olusola Afolabi had protested against the last week’s election, saying the emergence of former secretary to the state government, Biodun Oyebanji is unknown to the law.
Addressing newsmen and supporters across the 16 local government areas in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Wednesday, Bamidele who was flanked by a House of Representatives member, Bamisile noted that the alleged injustice and electoral perfidy meted out to the seven aspirants would not push them away from the party, adding that they would remain in the party to fight their course.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and legal matters expressed regret that the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi betrayed the trust he had in him by not protecting the tenets of democracy, adding, “I thought I know him before, but events in the last few days have shown otherwise.”
On whether the seven aggrieved aspirants that had constituted themselves into a political force with the acronym G-7 would defect from APC, Bamidele said, “None of us is contemplating defection from APC, this is our party. We have contributed so much to it from the days of the Alliance for Democracy.
“All we are asking for is justice. We are waiting for the national leadership to take the right step and this must start by them submitting a dummy name to INEC and using the two weeks window available as contained in the Electoral Act to do what is right in this matter. I can even be quoted that the name submitted to INEC in Abuja as of today is a dummy, so those celebrating should do that in moderation because it will be short-lived.
“We won’t leave this party, but not leaving does not mean that APC will not be taught a lesson. This is not a threat, but a prophecy that will come to pass. We are not going anywhere, but if the party doesn’t do it right, they will be taught a lesson they will never forget by June 18.
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“If it is part of their calculation that we will leave the party for them, they are making a mistake. We are still waiting for the national leadership of our collective position. We have filed petitions and if they endorse that impunity they called primary, it will be cleared that we have exhausted all the internal mechanisms for crisis resolution and we can from there return to the court of law.”
Reeling out how the election was allegedly manipulated, Bamidele stated that the process was hijacked from the governor Abubakar Badaru-led committee by officials of the state government and appointed those that would do Oyebanji’s biddings to compromise the process and subvert the will of the people.
“The Ad hoc staff were to be adopted for the conduct of the poll because it was assumed that every member in Ekiti would have taken position. When you talk of ad hoc staff, it means those that would be brought from the national Secretariat of the party or APC members from other states.
“The process was totally hijacked from the Badaru committee. What we saw was seeing people who were campaign managers, sponsors and promoters of Biodun Oyebanji being appointed and saddled with the responsibility of being returning officers in the 16 local government areas.
“The election materials were to be distributed early on Thursday before the start of the primary and to be distributed in the presence of agents of aspirants, INEC, security chiefs and monitoring teams. But materials, both sensitive and nonsensitive were distributed in the previous night. We got calls that as of 11 pm, Governor Badaru had handed over materials to Returning Officers from the 16 councils.
“Out of the 16 Returning Officers appointed, 11 of them were with Oyebanji when he collected his expression of interest and nomination forms at the party Secretariat in Abuja.
“In several of our local governments, the venues of our collation centres were changed. At the appropriate time, we will give evidence that will put all of us in public court and that will be useful in the court of law. Available INEC report shows that there was no voting, no valid primary election in Ekiti.
“One thing I can assure you is that the last is yet to be heard about the Ekiti governorship primary. We will not stop at anything seeking for justice. We should take every step that will challenge this political misbehaviour from repeating itself in future so that politicians can learn how to take caution and be civil in their dealings,” he said.
On the role alleged role of Fayemi, the senator said, “the majority of Ekiti people are seriously disappointed with the way the election went. I thought the election would be free and fair because I thought Dr Kayode Fayemi won’t get involved in things that will deprive the party of a free and fair process and that he will provide for a level playing ground. Only history will judge me whether I was right or not. I thought I knew him, but I didn’t know that I did to know him quite enough.”
In his submission, Bamisile warned the security agencies against threatening people with arrest over the APC governorship crisis, saying such will not work, adding that the party would face serious defeat during the poll.
“This is our state, we are fighting for what we believe in, this is a democracy where everyone has the right to support whoever he likes. The police shouldn’t threaten us with arrest. Nobody can stop this, the only thing they can do to stop us is to allow justice in our party.
“Whatever votes they have allotted to us will reflect on the day of the election. We won’t leave this party, but not leaving does not mean that APC will not be taught a lesson. This is not a threat, but a prophecy that will come to pass. We are not going anywhere, but if the party doesn’t do it right, they will be taught a lesson they will never forget and the party will become past in Ekiti,” he said.
