…Says they won’t dump the party

All Progressives Congress governorship aspirants in Ekiti State, including the Senator representing Ekiti Central, Opeyemi Bamidele and a House of Representatives member, Hon Femi Bamisile have said they are waiting for the national leadership of the party to address the crisis that characterised the January 27, 2022 primary.

Addressing his campaign team across the 16 local government area in Ado Ekiti, Senator Bamidele, at the joint press briefing with Bamisile, formally rejected  the outcome of the primary that produced Biodun Oyebanji, after due consultations with supporters and called on the leadership of the Party to cancel the primary.

“The leadership of the party must take the right step and this must start by  them submitting  a dummy name to INEC and use the two weeks window available as contained in the Electoral Act  to do what is right in this matter. I can be quoted that the name that will be taken to INEC  in Abuja will be dummy name, so those celebrating should do that in moderation”.

Senator Bamidele said there are no intension to dump from the ruling party while they are seeking for justice

They said as much as they won’t dump the party, the aspirants posited that  they won’t hesitate to stay inside the party and teach it a bitter lesson over the alleged electoral fraud  perpetrated during the primary using political and legal means.

“If it is part of their calculation that we will leave the party for them, they are making a mistake. We are still waiting for the national leadership on our collective position. We have filed petitions and if they endorse that impunity they called primary, it will be clear that we have exhausted all the internal mechamisms for crisis resolution  and we can frim there  return to the court of law”.

The Senator added that all the alleged shenanigans and breach of party’s constitution perpetrated by Governor Abubakar Badaru-led Primary Committee will be addressed politically and legally to teach APC a lesson it will never forget.

Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele and Hon femi Bamisile

Reeling out how the election was allegedly manipulated, Bamidele stated that the Badaru-led Committee hijacked the process by distributing materials a day before election, changed collation centres, and arbitrarily appointed those that would do Oyebanji’s biddings to compromise the process and subvert the will of the people.

“The Ad hoc staff were to be adopted for the conduct of the poll, because it was assumed that every member in Ekiti would have taken position. When you talk of ad hoc staff, it means those that would be  brought from the national Secretariat of the party or APC members from other states.

“The process was totally hijacked by Badaru committee. What we saw was seeing  people who were campaign managers, sponsors and promoters of Biodun Oyebanji being appointed and saddled with the responsibility of being Returning Officers in the 16 local governments.

“The election materials were to be distributed early on Thursday before the start of the primary and  to be distributed in the presence of agents of aspirants , INEC, security chiefs and monitoring teams. But  materials, both sensitive and nonsensitive,  were distributed the previous night. We got calls that as of 11pm, Governor Badaru had handed over materials to Returning Officers from the 16 councils.

“Out of the  16 Returning Officers appointed,   11 of them were with  Oyebanji when he  collected  his expression of interest form at the party Secretariat in Abuja.

“In several of our local governments, the venues of our collation centres were changed. At the appropriate time, we will give evidence that will put all of us in  public court and that will be useful  in the court of law. Available INEC report shows that there was no voting, no valid primary election in Ekiti.

“One thing I can assure you is that the last is yet to be heard about the Ekiti governorship  primary. We will not stop at anything seeking for justice. We should take every step that will challenge this political misbehaviour from repeating itself in future, so that politicians can learn how to take caution and be civil.

“Majority of Ekiti people are seriously disappointed with the way the election went. I thought the election would be free and fair, because I thought Dr. Kayode Fayemi won’t get involved in things that will deprive the party of free and fair process and that he will provide for a level playing ground. Only history will judge me whether I was right or not . I thought I knew him, but I didn’t know that I did t know him quite enough”.

In his submission, Bamisile, warned the security agencies against threatening people with arrest over the APC governorship crisis, saying such will not work.

“This is our state, we are fighting for what we believe in , this is a democracy where everyone has the right to support whoever  he likes. The police shouldn’t threaten us with arrest. Nobody can stop this, the only thing they can do to stop us is to allow justice in our party.

“Whatever votes they have allotted to us will reflect on the day of election. We won’t leave this  party, but not leaving does not mean that APC will not be taught a lesson.This is not a threat, but a prophesy that will come to pass. We are not going anywhere, but if the party doesn’t do it right, they will be taught a lesson they will never forget”.