Averting Post-primary Crisis in Ekiti APC

As the winner of the January 27, 2022, governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, Mr. Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji relishes the joy of his victory, party stakeholders should sustain their reconcilliatory efforts to ensure that they go into the June 18, 2022 governorship election as one family, Raheem Akingbolu reports

For the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, it has been two weeks of anxiety, disagreement, and finally, victory. Though the anxiety was high 48 hours before the party’s primary as contestants were rounding off their campaigns, they still enthusiastically attended a stakeholders’ meeting at the instance of the chairman of the party’s Governorship Primary Election Committee, Governor Mohammed Badaru of Jigawa State and agreed to all the election procedures.

At the meeting, which was attended by seven of the aspirants, Badaru had promised that he would not accept any results written from homes and hotel rooms during the primary election, pledging that the exercise would be transparent. Aspirants at the meeting were, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, Mr. Femi Bamisile, Mr. Bamidele Faparusi, Mr. Kayode Ojo and Olushola Afolabi, while Demola Popoola was absent.

The committee chairman explained that the party register handed over to the committee by the national headquarters of the party with 183,000 registered members would be used, saying that the party members would queue behind the posters of their preferred aspirants. He further added that the accreditation of party members would commence by 8.00am and end by 12pm, while voting would start immediately till 2pm with party’s membership card and INEC voters card as prerequisite for voting.

After the meeting, the stage was set as party members headed to their respective wards. By 8am on Thursday, January 27, loyal members of the APC had moved to polling units for accreditation. Then the rumour started filtering in that some contestants had withdrawn from the race, alleging unfair treatment by the leadership of the party in the state. Few hours into the election, it went viral again that some aggrieved contestants were already staging a protest at the party headquarters and calling for the postponement of the election. Fortunately, the election was already going on as at the time the information was shared and so only few people took it seriously. While some party members had dismissed the news as fake, many enlightened members of the party considered it irrelevant since it didn’t emanate from constituted authority.

Of course the governorship primary electoral committee had swiftly reacted and denied the postponement in a statement titled, “Ekiti State APC Primary Election is not Postponed.”

An APC youth leader from Ward 01, Ekiti West, Surajudeen Alao who spoke to THISDAY admitted that he heard the story about the purported postponement but dismissed it as fake news.

“Like every party member, I went to bed on 26 of January after a final meeting with our leaders, in preparation for the following day’s election. I was already on the queue for my accreditation around 9am when I heard of the purported postponement. Personally, I dismissed it because I knew it was only the election committee or perhaps the party leadership that could call for postponement,” Alao said.

The picture painted by the youth leader was similar to what many other party members who spoke to THISDAY said, but indeed, there was a statement issued by some of the aspirants and a follow-up protest in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State.

Speaking with journalists at the party’s secretariat in Ado Ekiti, on the morning of the election, the aggrieved aspirants had alleged that aides and loyalists of Governor Kayode Fayemi were appointed by the Badaru-led committee as presiding and returning officers. But in a swift reaponse, the Jigawa State governor insisted that each of the eight aspirants submitted a list of 20 loyalists, who were accommodated in the list already prepared by the party.

While some members of the party, who were sympathetic to the position of the aggrieved aspirants were celebrating the purported postponement, elections were ongoing in about 97 per cent of the 177 wards in Ekiti State.

By 4pm same day when THISDAY visited the APC secretariat in Ado Ekiti, electoral officers had started trouping in with the results from the various wards with collations in progress . By 9.30pm, Governor Badaru announced Oyebanji as the winner of the primary election having scored 101,703 votes while Ojo, his closest rival, polled 767 votes. Bamidele got 760 votes, Adeyeye scored 691 votes and Bamisile polled 400 votes. Also, Faparusi garnered 376 votes, Popoola scored 239, while Afolabi scored 47 votes.

According to the committee chairman, out of the total number of 183,000 registered members of the party who were also registered voters, 107,877 were accredited while 104,983 votes were cast.

As a result of the controversy that trailed the election, the leaders and elders of the party immediately embarked on moves to quickly reach out to aggrieved members, especially other aspirants.

Oyebanji who set the tone of reconciliation, had, in his acceptance speech titled: “This is a win for all,” which he read late that night, extended hands of fellowship to the aggrieved aspirants.

He said he needed their support for the task ahead, thanking party leaders and supporters across the state, for the opportunity given to him to be the party’s standard bearer in the coming election.

“To my fellow aspirants, all of you worthy Ekiti sons, I salute your courage of conviction and your passion for the upliftment of our dear state. Your participation in the process has served to strengthen our party, through the mobilisation of many voices. During contests such as this, tensions are understandably high, and tempers rise in all quarters. This is all normal in the course of democratic expression. I hereby promise my fellow aspirants that together, we will work towards victory and a bright future for our people.

“I will be reaching out personally to seek an audience with every one of you in the coming days. I want to listen to you, so that together we can fit in our respective parts of the big picture and run a wholesome campaign that connects with the hearts and minds of our people. According to the popular Yoruba proverb – agbajo owo la fi ns’oya, ajoji owo kan ko gberu d’ori, and the popular maxim –

‘together, we are greater than the sum of our individual parts’– without a doubt the undertaking ahead of us must be a collective one, and we need everybody. I, therefore, humbly ask for your support as we begin the task of campaigning for the Saturday, June 18, 2022 general election. We have a huge mission ahead of us to retain the governance of our dear state under our great party, and to ensure the continuity of our progressive programmes and policies as established by our leaders.”

Speaking as a guest on Morning Show of ARISE NEWS Channel, the following day, Oyebanji had also promised that the matter would be resolved, pointing out that APC had an internal mechanism to resolve such bickering.

“Well, I have already reached out to the other contestants. I have spoken to some of them. We are in conversation and in the next few days, I’ll be going to them one-on-one for further discussion and to deepen the already agreed conversations with them. I believe strongly that the APC is strong and the APC has an inbuilt mechanism to resolve issues arising from the context. One thing is clear, in every context, there will be different views and opinions and it behooves on each and every one of us to bend back and resolve the issue in the interest of our people, in the interest of the state and interest of the party and I’m confident that all those things will be done.”

The candidate also stated that he has personal relationship with all of the aspirants and that he was sure they all wanted the best for the state and the party, hoping that in the spirit of ensuring that Ekiti State develops, reason will prevail without necessarily rupturing the APC.

In an interview with THISDAY on efforts being taken to reconcile contending forces in the election, House of Representatives’ member, representing Ekiti North Federal Constituency II, Hon. Kunle Ibrahim Olarewaju, said the reconciliation was already ongoing, with respected leaders calling and visiting all the aspirants. He also expressed confidence that the party would go to the June 18 election with one voice.

“Those who are in doubt over whether we would reconcile all the aggrieved parties or not obviously don’t know the workings of a progressive party like APC. In 2018 for instance, Governor Fayemi emerged winner in a primary, where close to 30 party members participated. At the end, APC leaders embarked on reconciliation and everything was settled. Today, not less than five of those contested with the governor are in this present administration, while two others, including Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and Hon. Femi Bamisile, are members of the National Assembly,” Olarewaju stated.

Though many sources within the party had confirmed that most of the aspirants were open to reconciliation and that the process was ongoing, there are still fears about the entire scenario. And in view of the importance of the reconciliation to the success of the party at the poll in June, political observers are drumming it daily into the ears of APC members in Ekiti State that the election is not won until it has been won.