THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced that it is poised for the 2018 election in Ekiti State, saying its delegates would be known by February when the list of delegates would be made public.
The party, while receiving a governorship aspirant, Mr Debo Ranti Ajayi at its secretariat, hinted that steps towards arriving at a candidate for the governorship election has become clear as the party’s list of delegates will be out by February.
The deputy chairman of APC in Ekiti State, Mrs Kemisola Olaleye, who disclosed this while receiving Ajayi, on Thursday, to officially declare his intent to run for the state’s governorship, also announced that a total of 27 aspirants have so far officially informed the party of their intent to contest for the governorship seat.
Mrs Olaleye promised the readiness of the party to conduct a credible, transparent, free and fair primary election among the aspirants.
She said: “We will hold credible, transparent, free and fair primary whenever the National Working Committee gives us the green light. By February, we will paste the list of eligible delegates that will vote in our primary.”
Olaleye said the APC has no favourite among its aspirants whom he described as “children of the same family.”
According to her, Ajayi had the pedigree and qualified to be governor based on his antecedents in private and public sectors.
Ajayi, who served as Commissioner for Budget and Planning in the Dr Kayode Fayemi administration, after a road show in parts of Ado Ekiti, before arriving at the APC secretariat in Ajilosun, expressed confidence that the APC would regain power in Ekiti in 2018.
Addressing the APC executive, Ajayi promised: “to lead the transformation of Ekiti from an economy that depends on federal allocation to a self-sustaining economy based on a massive production of goods and services.”
He also assured that his government would invest in youth and women whom he described as critical stakeholders who have not been empowered enough by successive administrations.