"PDP may lose Ekiti in 2018 if Fayose imposes deputy"

The Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti state may be heading for another round of crisis as five governorship aspirants in the party have resolved to work together and resist the alleged imposition of Deputy Governor Kolapo Olusola as the “sole candidate” for the 2018 polls.


They said the pronouncement of Olusola as the sole candidate of the party by a group of people under the supervision of Governor Fayose was alien to democratic principles and tenets which the party stands for, insisting that there must be a free, fair, credible and transparent primary election from where the party’s flag bearer for the 2018 governorship race will emerge.

They said the Governor’s action, if not corrected by the leadership of the party, could make the party lose the governorship election. One of the aspirants, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, the immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, disclosed this in Ado-Ekiti while speaking as a guest at the commissioning of the campaign office of a fellow aspirant, Ambassador Dare Bejide. Ajayi, who was one of the closest and most trusted aides of Fayose before falling apart after Olusola’s adoption, said imposition of governorship candidate could open way for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to grab power from PDP in the 2018 Ekiti poll. “All PDP aspirants we are all working together; that is the reason why all of us should work together and I want to assure you that all aspirants in PDP minus the one that was adopted.

All other aspirants, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Senator Biodun Olujimi, Ambassador Dare Bejide, Bisi Omoyeni and myself are all working together to ensure that there is no imposition of any candidate in PDP in this state.

“To demonstrate the love among us, that is why I am here today to witness the commissioning of my friend’s campaign office and I believe that when I am going to do my own, I will also invite all of you to be there and you will equally be there.

“Because when one of us becomes the governor under a peaceful, free and fair atmosphere, there will be no problem for our party members and there will no crisis in our state and it will not be possible for APC to defeat us.

“Impunity, imposition of candidates, lawlessness and recklessness by those who suppose to know the rules in our party must stop.

These were responsible for the loss of our party in the 2015 general elections.

“We don’t want our state to be taken over by APC; we don’t want impunity, imposition and lawlessness in our party again and that is why we are demanding a free and fair primary.

“We will ensure that there is no imposition in PDP, that is why we the aspirants, except the one purportedly adopted, are one and united and that is why I am here in solidarity with Bejide.”

Ajayi urged the PDP national leadership to intervene in Ekiti and other state chapters so that the so that the party will not lose more leaders and members to other parties.

He explained that the PDP is yet to recover from the 2015 loss in many states of the federation where party members defected to APC to win governorship and legislative seats.

Ajayi added: “Some of our leaders because of the power they wielded imposed their will on the people during the 2015 general elections and the party paid dearly for it.

“Former Plateau Governor Jonah Jang fielded his son-in-law as the governorship candidate while his predecessor, Joshua Dariye, sponsored Simon Lalong, our party member to contest on APC platform to win the governorship election.

“This is despite the fact that PDP has the majority in the Plateau State House of Assembly but we lost the governorship to APC.

“Also in Benue, former Governor Gabriel Suswam, imposed a candidate but our party member, Samuel Ortom, crossed over to APC to win the governorship election. We incurred these losses because of imposition.”