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Tag: Ekiti 2018

  • Ekiti 2018: 35 political parties to contest July 14 election

    Ekiti 2018: 35 political parties to contest July 14 election

    Thirty-five political parties will be participating in the July 14 Ekiti governorship poll, out of the 68 registered parties, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmud has said.

    Yakubu disclosed this yesterday after hosting a delegation of female parliamentarians in West Africa led by Assaita Daffe.

    The visiting team was at the INEC headquarters to formally present the ECOWAS publication on Gender and Election Strategic Framework and Action Plan.

    The INEC boss disclosed that the timeline for submission of candidates’ names has elapsed, but added that there is still room for any of the 35 political parties to substitute candidates, if need be.

    He had earlier assured his guests that the commission was committed to working with the political parties to achieve increased women representation in politics.

    Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Aissata Daffe, through an interpreter, had underscored the need for increased women participation in appointive and elective offices.

     

  • Ekiti 2018: Buhari approves Fayemi’s leave to seek party’s nomination

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a leave of absence requested by Minister of Mines and Steel Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

    It was to allow him seek the nomination of his party, the All Progressives Congress(APC), to vie as a candidate in the July 14 governorship election.

    A statement on Monday by Fayemi’s media aide, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, said the one month leave began on April 9.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the Media Office of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, minister of Mines and Steel Development, has been drawn to reports putting the date for the beginning of his leave at April 30.

    “As a matter of fact, Dr. Fayemi started the one month leave on April 9, as approved by the president, following the minister’s request.

    “This is just to put the records straight and avoid any further mix up on the issue of the leave approved for the minister, who is a governorship aspirant in APC.”

    Oyebode said the clarification became necessary to educate certain individuals calling for Fayemi’s disqualification over non-resignation as a minister before joining the governorship race.

     

  • Ekiti 2018: Unhealthy rivalry among APC aspirants, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    The main opposition All Progressives Congress, APC had 47 out of 63 aspirants (as of Friday, April 13) vying to be candidates of political parties in the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti. By mid last week, 24 of this number had obtained the nomination and expression of interest forms.

    This shows there’s more interest and enthusiasm in the APC. It attests to the openness, and a level-playing ground guaranteed by the leadership of the party, both in Abuja and Ado-Ekiti, the capital city of Ekiti, to advance internal democracy.

    This is contrary to what obtains in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, where one of the few applicants has been technically anointed as “the candidate” by Governor Ayodele Fayose. That “unilateral” nomination of his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, has caused fissures in Ekiti PDP, leading to recent defection of some chieftains to the burgeoning Social Democratic Party (SDP).

    The large number of hopefuls in the APC also indicates that virtually all 16 local governments in Ekiti are represented in the scramble to spread the governorship slot, and the “sharing from the national cake” by all sections of the state. Hence, other things held constant, it places the party in good stead to win at the July poll.

    But in the heat of campaigns, and as the number of aspirants swelled, the electorate, especially members of the APC, began to hear mixed messages: the desire to send packing the PDP government of Governor Fayose, and at the same time shut out some contestants, who had ruled Ekiti but still have the right to another term of office, as endorsed by the APC constitution and the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

    For instance, while declaring his interest in the governorship race at a rally in Ado-Ekiti, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu, trained his focus on removing the incumbent government in the state.

    His words: “Today, I declare my desire to be the next governor of our state. Today, I ask you to join me in bringing sense back to our government house. Today, I ask you to join me in bringing better jobs to the state. I call on you, indigenes and residents, to join me aboard our train of progress.

    “If you want a better life for your children, join us and let us make our state a pacesetter state. I know that the journey cannot be easy because we will have to climb mountains but our work will not be in vain. It’s time to vote out corrupt leadership in the state; it’s time to say bye bye to (Governor) Fayose and his useless government.”

    Yet, on the day Ojudu obtained his nomination and expression of interest forms, he turned on his APC co-contestants, as follows: “Over the years, scammers and gangsters have governed us and (this) has led us to where we are today… Since 1999, I have been fighting to correct that (the) wrongs in my state. But I have come to see that the elements that have come to be in charge of the state have not done what they are supposed to do and have not carried on with the dream of the founding fathers.”

    It’s an undisguised dig at former Governors Niyi Adebayo, Segun Oni and Kayode Fayemi – all APC stalwarts. Chief Oni and Dr. Fayemi (Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development) are vying to return to power, and will join in the May 5 primaries of the party.

    Counsel! Instead of criticizing, and denigrating their co-contestants, aspirants should tell the electorate what they have on the table for them post-July 14. Most importantly, they should remember that the APC has the Ekiti PDP and the government it controls as their target. So, their eyes should always be on that ball!

    The aspirants need to heed Dr. Fayemi’s entreaties. While urging the State Working Committee “to set out a code of ethics to regulate the conducts of every contestant,” he said: “It is absolutely unacceptable for aspirants to indulge in abuses, (and) use intemperate language against one another. If we do this, we will be damaging the brand the APC is known for.

    “Each contestant should sell his brand to the party delegates, who will decide our fates. We should be ready to support whoever the party picks as the candidate, provided the process is free, fair and transparent… I will see whoever fights after the primary as a mole, who was sent to destroy our party.”

    Certainly, you can’t get past that possibility, considering the number of aspirants, some, as if “sponsored,” are ready to go to the gutter to smear their competitors. But the antidote to implosion of the Ekiti APC is a free, fair and credible primary election, such as promised by the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, during his visit to Ado-Ekiki, to flag-off a membership drive nationwide.

    Addressing headlong the “rumours” that the hierarchy of the APC had “anointed” a candidate, Odigie-Oyegun said: “I want to assure you that in Ekiti State, we will have free, fair and credible primary. We will provide security at the primary. It will be an open event and will be covered and recorded on television from the beginning to the end.

    “There will be proper identification of delegates to prevent impersonation. Anybody found impersonating will be handed over to the police. A formidable group of (APC) governors will be mobilized to superintend, guide and ensure that the election is totally free and fair.”

    Well, walking the talk of this avowal would eschew rancour and bad blood after the primaries, and encourage the contestants (including the candidate) to pool their resources: campaigns, finances, supporters and mobilization for the APC victory at the election. Deviate from this path and the actual “bye bye” would be to the APC!

     

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Ekiti 2018: APC announces date for sale of governorship form

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said it would commence sale of Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to aspirants for the July 14 Ekiti State governorship election on Monday.
    A schedule of activities released by Organising Secretary of the party, Sen. Isita Izunaso, on Friday in Abuja, indicated that the forms would be on sale until April 17.
    It showed that screening of aspirants would take place from April 23 to April 25, and that screening appeal would be from April 26 to April 27.
    The time-table revealed that the primary election would be on May 5, while the appeal that may emanate from the exercise addressed between May 7 and May 9.

     

  • Ekiti 2018: Oyegun’s sermon to APC members

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    When concerned members were wondering if the All Progressives Congress was absolutely ready for the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti, the party National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, visited the state last Monday, to allay their fears.

    Those worries stemmed from the apparent lukewarm to electoral contest by the chapter of the APC, which consecutively boycotted council elections in 2015 and 2017, citing likelihood of bias by the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC).

    With those boycotts, the APC has ignorantly allowed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti to fortify its stronghold at the grassroots critical to mobilizing for elections into state and national positions.

    What’s more! The state PDP has logged in years of campaigning in readiness for the July poll. Practically on daily basis, Governor Ayodele Fayose and his “anointed candidate” and Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, would mobilize well-choreographed crowds of party members to any events – public or private, and turned them into campaign activities.

    But what about the APC, its aspirants and followers? They are almost nowhere to be found in the field, with only occasional one-off “launching ceremonies” by the aspirants at the party headquarters in Ado-Ekiti. Other jostlings are simply media photo-ups at their “country-homes.” And this is happening barely weeks to the pivotal governorship election!

    It’s amid this despondency that Odigie-Oyegun “suddenly” showed up in Ado-Ekiti, to kick-off a nationwide membership drive, which is indicative of the existence of a lacuna requiring urgent and decisive action(s) to ameliorate in the party.

    Accompanied by some members of the National and State Working Committees (NWCs), and the Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Odigie-Oyegun had audience at the party secretariat and Eagle Hall in the capital city, where the governorship aspirants “mobilized thousands of members to receive the team.”

    He told the expectant members that his visit was not happenstance, but to show the readiness of the APC to win the governorship poll in the state. “Ekiti is facing an important election that will happen in this nation,” he said. “God has put it in our hand; God has put it on your laps and God has chosen Ekiti to be a major factor in the politics of this country in July 2018.

    “We, in the National Executive, have decided that the coming election in Ekiti is one we will work as hard as possible to win. No stone will be left unturned: it is a must-win election… We are going to mobilise the entire country, the entire APC structure, to ensure that you are not alone and that all the resources you need for the election are made available to you. At the end of July, Ekiti will be APC.”

    This solidarity message would gladden the hearts of the APC members and sympathizers in Ekiti. But the more reassuring, especially to the governorship aspirants, was Odigie-Oyegun’s promise that the party would allow a level-playing ground at the primaries.

    The pledge came in the wake of “rumours” that the hierarchy of the APC had “anointed” a candidate, like what obtains in the PDP, which has set other aspirants against Governor Fayose for unilaterally choosing his deputy as the party’s candidate for the poll.

    Odigie-Oyegun said: “I want to assure that in Ekiti State, we will have free, fair and credible primary. We will provide security at the primary. It will be an open event and will be covered and recorded on television from the beginning to the end. There will be proper identification of delegates to prevent impersonation.

    “At the voting point, party chairmen of the local government (chapters) and wards will stand at a distance away, but they will ensure that those who will vote are bona fide delegates. Anybody found impersonating will be handed over to the police. A formidable group of (APC) governors will be mobilized to superintend, guide and ensure that the election is totally free and fair.”

    These declarative statements, beyond the realm of a gentleman’s agreement, are like a jolt to rouse the Ekiti APC, and which, hopefully, the national headquarters of the party would implement to the letter, to stem a possible downside at the election.

    Yet, realizing the need to regain lost ground, due to APC’s boycott of the Ekiti council elections twice, Chief Odigie-Oyegun issued a “code of conduct” that mandates: Aspirants to sign an undertaking to maintain decorum; not to campaign as if there is no tomorrow, or with enmity, to avoid discord in the party; not to behave as bad losers; to collapse their structures into the person that is chosen at the primary; and to eschew division and factionalisation in the party.

    Even so, the APC chair reminded members that President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowal to offer voters a level-playing field, and not compromise free and fair election, “means (that) whether we are in power at the federal level or not, we must all work hard to deserve the victory that belongs to us.”

    What else do the Ekiti APC want, especially the aspirants: Chief Segun Oni, Dr. Wole Oluyede, Mr. Kola Alabi, Mr. Victor Kolade, Dr. Bayo Orire, Senator Gbenga Aluko, Captain Sunday Adebomi, Dr. Mojisola Kolade, Chief Diran Adesua, Mr. Bimbo Daramola, Senator Ayo Arise, Dr. Wole Oluleye and Dr. Makanjuola Owolabi, who were present at the membership drive flag-off in Ado-Ekiti?

    Will the losers at the primaries take their defeat in stride and good faith, and work with the winner for the good of the APC? Surely, the July 14, 2018 governorship ball is in their court to play to score, or flunk and remain in the political wilderness till 2022!

     

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Ekiti 2018: Fayose orders removal of unauthorised posters, campaign billboards

    The Ekiti Government on Tuesday pulled down gubernatorial campaign billboards erected in any part of the state without official permission and payment of attached fees.

    The government said there was no going back on its resolve to put a stop to indiscriminate mounting of billboards and littering of the environment with posters and leaflets.

    The State Commissioner for Information, Youth and Sports Development, Mr Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the exercise was not a witch-hunt.

    He stressed that the development was to maintain sanity in the sector through proper management and control.

    Ogunsuyi emphasised that the law regulating outdoor advertisement would henceforth apply to all persons, regardless of their political or religious affiliation.

    According to him, the defacement of both public and private infrastructure has become a source of concern with posters and billboards of products, upcoming events and political campaigns becoming not only an eyesore but a health hazard.

    He explained that no reasonable government would continue to tolerate the flagrant disregard for human health and hygiene.

    The commissioner expressed surprise that most of the culprits were opinion leaders and educated people who should know the danger of the “unwholesome act”.

    He said the State Signage and Advertising Agency had been mandated to prevent individuals, organisations, religious bodies and other stakeholders from defacing the environment in a bid to ensure cleanliness.

    He advised that placement of any billboard must henceforth be registered with the agency.

    Ogunsuyi solicited the support of all stakeholders for government’s effort at developing the state and protecting the overall interest of the people,

    He warned that all recalcitrant individuals and groups of people trying to test the resolve of government would be dealt with according to the law of the land.

    The government had warned that bill boards and campaign posters erected in unauthorised places would be pulled down.

  • Ekiti 2018: I won’t leave APC even if… Segun Oni

    Chief Segun Oni, a former governor of Ekiti and Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said on Sunday that he was not planning to defect to another party.

    Oni, who was reacting to an online report that he was planning to join a speculated coalition, said there was no iota of truth in the publication.

    The spokesman for Oni, Mr Steve Alabi, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti quoted his principal as describing the report as the product of the imagination of the writer.

    The statement read in part: “ Why would I decamp to any other political party, either existing or yet to be formed aside the APC.

    “ I have said times without number, and I want to reiterate it, as far as Segun Oni is concerned, the reason why I’m contesting this election is because of my party.

    “Therefore, if I’m not the candidate of my party, I will still work for my party, if I lose the upcoming Ekiti APC primaries, I will remain loyal to the party.

    “ Why will I leave the APC? I have been here; we conscientiously fought the PDP out of power, with everything we have got.

    ”Those peddling the rumours are either bystanders or those who don’t believe in the agenda of President Buhari and who are now trying to find ways of rubbishing people who believe in the president.

    ”I’m a member of the APC and by the grace of God, the Deputy National Chairman. I don’t know any other party. I don’t have a plan B. My plan A, B or C is APC because I’m not desperate.

    ”Why would I be desperate when I know that honour has no equivalent? So if anybody tells you I want to go to any other party, the question you should ask the person is whether I told him so or if I held any meeting with him where such matter was discussed.”

    The statement added that it was incongruous that Oni, who just received a PDP chieftain, Sen. Basheer Garba Mohammed, into the APC fold in Kano over the weekend could be defecting himself.

    “It is not the first time that rumour-mongers are spreading such fake stories of decamping about Oni.

    “ The other time, they said he was defecting to APGA. This time, it is a party that is yet to be birthed,’’ it said.

    “After the failed APGA story, they want to come out again using Oni to gain prominence or sell their platform, but they have forgotten that the credentials of Chief Segun Oni could not be faulted.

    “So, I will advise them to try another person, but, for Segun Oni, they are already a failure on arrival,’’ it added.

  • Ekiti 2018: Fayose, APC aspirants risk sanction for billboards, other campaign items – REC

    The new Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Prof. AbdulGaniy Olayinka Raji has said Governor Ayodele Fayose his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, and some All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants risk getting penalised for allegedly campaigning ahead of the time stipulated by law for the 2018 election.

    Raji stated this when he addressed reporters on Wednesday in his office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    He spoke after holding a stakeholders’ meeting with leaders of political parties under the auspices of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).

    The REC also said about 221,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) had not been collected by eligible voters in the state.

    Raji said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was empowered by law to prosecute politicians who engaged in any form of “early campaign” before the time allowed by law.

    Fayose has erected billboards bearing his pictures and those of his deputy in which he referred to Olusola as “Your Next Governor”.

    Governorship aspirants of other parties also mounted billboards and banners in front of their campaign offices, on the major roads and boundaries of Ekiti with other neighbouring states.

    He noted that the act of erecting campaign billboards before the ban on open campaign is lifted constitutes an electoral offence punishable by fine and jail term if the offender is found guilty.

    Raji also frowned against running of campaign jingles on the electronic media and placing of campaign adverts in the newspapers which he said violate electoral law.

    All these infractions, he said, violates Section 99 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    Raji said: “All these acts are not in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    “Activities that look like campaign are against the Constitution and people should desist from them. Media houses should scrutinise jingles and adverts that may implicate them.

    “Any offender convicted is liable to a maximum fine of N500,000 and a jail term at the discretion of the judge. The law also permits INEC to remove such billboards.”

    Raji advised political parties to join hands with INEC to ensure the success of the 2018 governorship poll in Ekiti State.

     

  • Ekiti 2018: Why I endorsed my deputy as next governor – Fayose

    Governor Ayodele Fayose on Friday explained why he supported the emergence of his deputy, Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka as the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state for next year’s governorship election.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Olusola emerged from the list of strong contenders for the governorship ticket as the “most preferred candidate” at a meeting held by party faithfuls in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the decision to support Olusola as the consensus candidate of the party was met with wide condemnations as other governorship candidates distanced themselves from the action.

    Leading the pack in condemning the selection of Olusola as consensus candidate of the party is the Publicity Secretary of the party, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, also a governorship candidate.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that political pundits in the state reminded the incumbent, Fayose of his statement in 2014 when promised the politicians in the state that neither him nor his deputy would seek any other political office as soon as their tenure expires in 2018.

    He had said, “I have taken one [oath] and I will take another one in October. After that, I will find my way to my house. Again, I have chosen a deputy governor and I have told him from the beginning that the two of us will pack our load and leave the Government House because I don’t want a deputy that will start playing politics behind me when we are in government and will be distracting me, I don’t want that again.

    “So, he is practically here for me to look after certain things and ensure that we succeed. When I am going, I will hold his hand and say bye to Ekiti people.”

    On why he changed his mind by adopting Olusola, Fayose said man proposes, but God disposes, but that this did not mean that there wouldn’t be any primary in the state.

    He said the deputy governor would compete with others in the party’s primary.

    He also said that his deputy had demonstrated good character, adding that he had always allowed God’s will to be done in every situation.

    The governor further said other aspirants should not be afraid of his support for his deputy since there would be primary election.

    He said, “Man proposes, God disposes. Sometimes, you wish some [people] as girlfriend, but they become your wife as perfection, judgment and finality are exclusively of God. The young man is outstanding in character.

    “Above all, constitutionally, my deputy is at liberty to run [for election] and I am at liberty to support anyone of my choice. Above all, other aspirants have nothing to fear if they have capacity to defeat him [Olusola] as the primary election is ahead.

    “If my support was for them, they would not complain. Rather, they would be celebrating it by now. Most of the aspirants complaining made a success of their political career through God’s grace and by my humble self. They never complained when they were rising at the expense of others.

    “The adoption [of Olusola] does not mean there will be no primary. Even for sole candidates, there must be a no or yes answer, so the primary must hold.”

  • Ekiti 2018: Fayose’s deputy, Olusola Eleka emerges PDP consensus governorship candidate

    Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Prof. Olusola Eleka on Wednesday emerged the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the forthcoming coming gubernatorial election scheduled to hold in 2018.

    Olusola emerged from the list of strong contenders for the governorship ticket as the “most preferred candidate” at a meeting held by party faithfuls in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the meeting was attended by serving and former members of the PDP State Working Committee, members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, chieftains of the party at the 16 local governments and 177 wards, as well as chairmen and members of Boards and Parastatals, among others.

    This was revealed in communique issued at the end of the meeting read, “After due consultation, without prejudice to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), we formally endorse His Excellency, Prof. Kolapo Olusola (the current deputy governor), from Ekiti South Senatorial District, as our preferred aspirant/candidate.”

    Olusola, an indigene of Ikere Ekiti, which is the second largest town in Ekiti, was adopted before the commencement of a retreat organised for members to sensitise them ahead of the 2018 election.

    Those who signed the communique are Anifowose Mustapha for councillors; Alhaji Amuda Sunmonu for Ward chairmen; Mr. Femi Bamisile for Local Government Party Chairmen; Dapo Olagunju for Association of Local Government Chairmen; Senator Bode Ola for Chairmen of Boards and Parastatals; Dr. Modupe Alade (Secretary to the State Government) for State Executive Council; Speaker Kolawole Oluwawole for EKHA and the State Chairman of the party, Chief Gboyega Oguntuase.

    Speaking with journalists after the adoption, Oguntuase said the party organs would abide by the decision taken by the stakeholders in the overall interest of the party and the entire people of Ekiti State.

    He, however, said the adoption would not preclude any member of the party who is interested in the governorship ticket from contesting.

    He added that open and transparent primary election would be held in accordance with the rules of the party.

    Eleka who recently became a professor was an accomplished teacher in the Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, for the over twenty-three (23) years before his sojourn into partisan politics in 2014.

    While in the academia, Eleka has successfully supervised two PhD, two M.Phil and nine M.Sc. students all in the field of Building Structures.

    He has severally served as External examiner in many universities within the country.

    His research interests are mainly in the field of Alternative Building Materials Development for Housing Construction, Construction Technology and Structural Mechanics.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Fayose has repeatedly assured Ekiti people of picking a popular candidate that will be bold in carrying on with his reform agenda in the state.