The former Secretary to Ekiti State Government, Biodun Oyebanji, had won the ticket of the All Progressives Congress in the state for the June 18 governorship election on Thursday.
Abubakar Badaru, the Chairman, APC Governorship Primary Electoral Committee for Ekiti and Jigawa State Governor, declared Oyebanji the winner of the primary election, stating that the former SSG garnered 101,703 votes to defeat other aspirants.
Badaru also announced the votes amassed by other aspirants: former governorship aspirant, Kayode Ojo, got 767 votes; National Assembly member, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, got 760 votes; former Minister of Works, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, got 691 votes; and House of Representatives member, Femi Bamisile got 400 votes.
Others aspirants include: former House of Representatives member, Bamidele Faparusi, who garnered 376 votes; aviation expert, Demola Popoola, who secured 239 votes; and Oluwasola Afolabi scored 47 votes.
However, earlier yesterday, seven out of the eight governorship aspirants protested the list of Local Government Electoral Committees for the primaries, claiming that it contained the names of Oyebanji’s supporters and campaigners.
Bamidele; Adeyeye; Bamisile; Faparusi; Ojo; Popoola; and Afolabi, along with their supporters stormed the APC Secretariat in Ekiti where they appealed to the party national leadership and the APC Governorship Primary Electoral Committee to suspend the primaries.
“We request that both the Local Government Election Committee and Ward Election Committee as constituted on the list already in circulation is disbanded and replaced with names that would reinforce internal democracy and uphold the aims and objectives of the party,” they said.
The aspirants also took to the state headquarters of the Nigeria Police, Independent National Electoral Commission, and the Department of State Services to report their claims of election rigging.
On his part, Oyebanji described the primaries as credible, free and fair, as opposed to the position maintained by the other aspirants.
The African Union’s Economic Social and Cultural Council on Thursday appealed to the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Committee of the APC to cancel the party’s primary in the state over alleged fraud.
The convener of Concerned APC Youth, Bello Ibraheem, spoke on the issue, saying that it was undemocratic for Badaru to allow an aspirant to hijack the exercise, which he said could destroy the party’s unity.
