The chairmanship and councillorship candidates would contest in the election scheduled by the state’s Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC) to hold on December 23, 2017.
The party had earlier said it would elect its candidates for the election through Option A4, in which voters would openly queue behind the candidate of their choice and the candidate with the highest number of voters in support, wins.
The elections started on Wednesday at the government house premises in Ado Ekiti, with candidates from Efon, Oye, Ekiti West and Ijero local government areas, while candidates from the other local government areas would take their turns tomorrow and Friday.
However, the Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement (PAAM) has kicked against the conduct of the primaries at the government house, among other infractions they alleged were being committed against the party by the state governor, Chief Ayodele Fayose.
PAAM, in a statement in reaction to the primaries, on Wednesday, signed by its director of Media and Publicity, Niyi Ojo said “the national leadership of our great party should quickly come to the rescue of the party in Ekiti State before Governor Fayose destroys the party.
“In the first instance, Mr Governor created his own constitution by fixing the maximum age for chairmanship candidate at 50 years while the maximum age for a councillorship candidate at 30 years against the provisions of Nigerian Constitution. There is nowhere in the constitution that stipulates maximum age for any elective position.”
Ojo added in the statement: “The primary elections to elect the candidates for councillorship and chairmanship of various local governments commenced yesterday (Wednesday) at the Ekiti State Government House instead of the various wards and local governments respectively. The Governor is the electoral officer for the exercise.”
PAAM claimed that “thousands of our teeming party people were subjected to untold hardships by sleeping on grasses, inside buses and car and concrete platform. The Governor adopted option A4 method that attracted a lot of people without any arrangement for the accommodation of the delegates.”
Speaking at the commencement of the exercise, Governor Fayose said the leadership of the PDP in the state adopted Option A4 to conduct its primaries for the coming local government election “because of the need to allow transparency in the process,” saying “the system would also give room for the most popular candidates to win.”
Fayose said: “We want a transparent process to select our candidates and we don’t want to have serious issues as a fallout of the exercise. If a person loses and sees that there was a level playing field, his complaints and grievances would be minimal.
“To ensure fairness in accreditation of those to vote, you have to come with your party membership card and voter card. Apart from that, party executive in each ward, as well as aspirants, are at the gate to identify voters before they come in. Any situation those people cannot identify a voter as being a member of their wards, such a person is not allowed in.”
On the decision by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to take part in the December 23, 2017, poll, Fayose said it was welcomed.
Meanwhile, the publicity secretary of Ekiti PDP, Jackson Adebayo, has explained that councilors and chairmanship aspirants from Ado, Ikere, Irepodun/Ifelodun and Ekiti South-West local government areas had been attended to.
Adebayo also said only seven out of the 13 wards in Ado Local Government were concluded, while all the seven chairmanship aspirants from the LG had been disqualified, saying they were “disqualified for gross misconduct.”
The party said those interested in contesting should collect the nomination form before Friday and pay the mandatory fees.
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