By Ayodele Oni
As candidates for the 2023 election emerge in the primary election by the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) which was held on Monday nationwide, there are indications that no election took place in Ekiti State.
PDP had held primary elections to pick candidates for Senate, House of Representatives and State Assemblies.
Rather than primary election in Ekiti state, members of PDP in the State have forwarded series of petitions to the National Secretariat of the PDP to intimate the leadership about what happened in Ekiti state.
In one of the petitions by some PDP members in Ikole Local Government, they claimed that election officials and materials were diverted to unknown place.
“As necessitated by the happenings today Sunday 22nd May 2022 we wish to bring to the attention of the Party at the National level, State and Local Government level, and the Independent National Electoral Commission that the Ikole Constituency 2 House Assembly primary that was supposed to be conducted at Headquarters of the Constituency Ward 10 in the Local Government Area, and in line with the stipulated provisions in the Party Constitution which emphases states that the primary election for House of Assembly, Ikole Constituency 2 should be conducted at the headquarters of the Constituency, the primary election today was not held.
“As the Electoral Officers appointed by the Party at the State level rather than following the due process was insisting on applying wisdom by adopting open balloting as against the open-secret that is provided for in the Constitution of the Party or using a foreign material rather than the materials supplied by the Headquarters Office of the Party.
“The Electoral Officers insisting on using his discretion rather than following the constitutional provision of the Party generated reactions as the leaders in the constituency insisted on due process.
“It is unusual as the Electoral Officers chose to disobey the laid down rules of the Party(no electoral material – no presentation of certified /verifiable or authenticated list of elected delegates in the constituency was presented, no ballot and nothing to identify himself as electoral officers when questioned).”
Another one by PDP Rebirth Group states that “Let it be noted and documented that there was no primary election conducted in Ekit North and Ekiti Central Senatorial District today Monday, 23rd of May 2022, with the rumour heard that Ekiti South was stepped down till tomorrow.
“As noted earlier, Fayose disallowed the party officials from Abuja from leaving his NTS hotel to any of the election centres for the purpose of the functions for which they were sent by the party in the first instance.
“The North Senatorial District has its headquarter at Ido Ekiti in Ido Osi LG while the central Senatorial District has its headquarter at Aramoko in Ekiti West LG of Ekiti State.
“None of the party officials from Abuja went to these locations at all and hence no election was conducted in these Senatorial headquarters as listed above.
“It was even hilarious that Fayose sent his Cousin Hon Babade Ige to De Xambra Hotel, Ado Ekiti to gather hoodlums and conjured results, while the party delegates were waiting in the sun at the party headquarter in Aramoko Ekiti.
“It was also an abysmal level of comedy that Chief Tunde Ogunleye of Ikole Ekiti, unknown and never selected by the party for any function, took flight with the election materials in company of Hon Akinbode, another criminal interloper and the acting Chairman, Hon Omolase to an unknown location, where they also conjured results for election not done anywhere.
“The National Chairman should note that there is no primary election for the purpose of nominating Senatorial candidates for the North and Central Districts of Ekiti State due to the usual shenanigans of an unpopular irredentist called Fayose.
“It is shameful that the party, PDP through the National Chairman will subject Ekiti State into this odium all the time, especially 3 weeks to our gubernatorial election.
“We call on the National Chairman to organise our primary election, latest by tomorrow lest the whole process will be concluded in the Court of Law.”
