Ekiti APC concludes arrangement as 33 aspirants jostle for governorship ticket

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has concluded arrangements to conduct its governorship primaries for its 33 aspirants that have been cleared for the contest. The aspirants all appear ready and good to go. But horse trading isn’t off the menu either.

Rumours has remained in the horizon that some aspirants had stepped down for another while those among them, who are sure of what they want, have denied stepping down. It also haven’t ceased to hover in the state that some of the aspirants would still step down, thereby fuelling the argument that some of the aspirants were railroaded into the race by some more powerful contenders.

While the politicians are doing their thing, the people of the state are anxiously waiting for who the APC delegates would present to them as their candidate for the July 14 election. There’s no denying the fact that awareness of the impending election is high in the state, and the people are not left out of the various shades of the discussions that surround the epoch.

However, people’s discussions of the election tend to be more on the side of caution and conjecture. Some of them claim that the cautious approach to the talk about the election is hinged on the fact that there are about 33 people jostling for one ticket “and until a candidate emerges, we cannot say this is who might be on the path to winning the governorship election.”

Thus, until the APC concludes with its shadow election tomorrow, theories and speculations and conjectures of who might or might not win, amounts to just mere talk.

In the meantime, the people of the state are holding their breath in anticipation of the anointed of the APC. And the delegates are to chose one out of two former governors namely Chief Segun Oni and Dr. Kayode Fayemi; former senators, Gbenga Aluko, Ayo Arise and Babafemi Ojudu; and former House of Representatives members, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, Bamidele Faparusi and Bimbo Daramola.

There is also an array of other high-ranking aspirants, from all walks of life, described by some observers as “quality hands” that the delegates could also choose from. Among them are Dr. Wole Oluyede, a former Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Mr. Olufemi Bamisile; an all-round medical personnel, Dr. Christiana Yaya Kolade; Mr. Kola Alabi, Mr. Kayode Ojo;  Dr. Oluwole Oluleye, Chief Sesan Fatoba, Mr. Diran Adesua, Mr. Muyiwa Coker and Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua

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The APC delegates also have the opportunity to choose from Dr Adebayo Orire, Mr. Debo Ranti Ajayi,  Mr. Victor Kolade, Mr. Oladipupo Ogunkoyode, Captain Sunday Adebomi and Chief Dele Okeya among others.

While the people of the state are waiting in bated breath for the outcome of the primaries, a commons sing-song among them is: They want a fair contest. And the party has repeatedly assured on this. But there are still some who are curiously watching some of the moves of their co-contestants, the leadership of the party and the electoral umpire, INEC.

For instance, while featuring on a live radio programme, in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, Mr. Olufemi Bamisile, alleged that there were some “obvious moves” by some people to import names into and manipulate the delegates’ list that was already with the party. He also alleged that names of some dead people as well as names of those he said had defected from the party were also finding their way into some of the delegates’ list.

Bamisile warned that this could mar the entire process as he insisted that the aspirants were vigilantly watching the build-up to the process and that “any attempt to manipulate the primary election to favour a particular aspirant will be met with resistance.” He however stated that he was willing to accept whoever emerged as the candidate of the party in a fair contest. This seems to be the standpoint of all the aspirants.

Allegations as these have left the some people wondering if the contest will not turn rancorous. it is even more so when “fair contest” sought by some of the aspirants could not be explicitly defined.

In all the politics however, there’s enough obvious conviviality to believe that all is well with the APC and its quest to provide Ekiti with a candidate that would be acceptable to all and also the people of the state.