The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Ekiti State rose from its meeting in Ado Ekiti at the weekend and charged stakeholders, especially the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police against being used to pay unwholesome roles in the 2018 governorship election in the state.
IPAC said at the meeting attended by all the registered political parties in the state, with the exception of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), said it would be dangerous for anyone or institution to be used to subvert the will of the people of the state, saying this was necessary to forestall crisis in the state.
The Chairman of IPAC in Ekiti, Dr Dele Ekunola, who spoke at the meeting, held at the secretariat of the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said “there is need for the police and INEC to be apolitical to avert a repeat of the kind of 1983 political crisis that engulfed the old Ondo State.”
Dr Ekunola said: “What we expect INEC and the police to do is that, they must not be dictated to. They must comply with the Electoral Act strictly. Police and INEC must not be used for electoral fraud, because they belong to Nigerians and not any individual.
“They must not force any candidate on Ekiti and this can only happen if they allow the electorate to freely choose their leader, because we want Ekiti of tomorrow to be better than today.
“The police in particular must not tolerate intruders from coming to Ekiti to foment trouble, because anything contrary to the wish of Ekiti people during the election will cause crisis and what we want is peace before, during and after the election, because we all belong to the same family,” he said.
IPAC, at the meeting also passed a vote of confidence on Governor Ayodele Fayose, at the meeting, with Ekunola explaining that the confidence vote was in appreciation of Fayose’s efforts and to boost his morale to be able to open up Ekiti to more development.
The political parties said there was the need for peace and the quest for peace as the 2018 polls drew near was the reason for their coming together to chart a peaceful way to attaining electoral goals.
Chairman of PDP faction in the state, Gboyega Oguntuase, said “all political parties in Ekiti are one. We operate like a family. And if you look critically, there is no inter-party crisis and this is how IPAC has been operating at the federal level and it will go down to the ward level because Nigeria and Ekiti need peace and unity.”
Oguntuase, who praised IPAC for brooding on how Ekiti can achieve peace, said the revolutionary transformation being carried out by Fayose will continue, appealing to APC to give peace a chance to forestall the programmes from being truncated.
He also canvassed support for Fayose’s government in view of the alleged attempt to review the April 14, 2015 Supreme court judgement, which validated the governor’s election, saying “nobody should be allowed to throw out Fayose who was popularly elected by the people.”
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