Immediate past Secretary to Ekiti State Government, Abiodun Oyebanji, has joined the race for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress ahead of next year governorship election in the South-West state.
Oyebanji was at the party national secretariat in Abuja, on Wednesday, to pick the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.
Speaking with newsmen, he expressed confidence that the party primary to pick its candidate would be transparent, submitting that the incumbent candidate and his former principal, Dr Kayode Fayemi has no anointed choice.
He said: “The governor of Ekiti State is the leader of the party in Ekiti State. All aspirants and members of APC, the governor has no preferred candidate, he prefers everyone. A candidate will emerge at primary. I’m not his anointed, everyone that is running belongs to APC and he’s our leader and I’m sure that everyone enjoys his support. ”
Against the background of controversy trailing the adoption of Direct Primary as the only option for political parties to pick their candidates in the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill awaiting President assent, the aspirant said he is indifferent to whatever option the party adopts to pick its standard bearer at the forthcoming primary.
“Whatever the party brings up, we are ready for that. It’s not in our place to choose for the party. We are members of the party, we will follow whatever the party chooses.”
Oyebanji further dismissed the perception that the APC is a fractured platform in Ekiti State, insisting that the ruling party is not polarised into factions.
“I am not aware of any faction in Ekiti State APC. Politics is a game of ideas and there are million views on how things should go. The APC is one family and as long as those characters you mentioned are still in APC, we are one big family and even in families, there are always disagreement. So, it’s not a big deal. So, I’m not aware of any division in Ekiti APC.
We had our congresses, it went well and everyone participated. The party also has put in place a level playing field for everyone who might be interested in contesting to come and pick forms. So there’s no faction in APC in Ekiti State. We are one.
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Ekiti 2022: Oyebanji joins race, says Fayemi has no anointed choice