The candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) for the Ekiti State governorship polls, Mrs. Kemi Elebute-Halle, has dismissed the purported defection of her running mate, Mr. Sunday Afuye, to All Progressives Congress (APC) as mere speculation, which is not known to members and leaders of the party.

Elebute-Halle, while addressing a press conference in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend, said: “Up till now, it is a speculation. My deputy governorship candidate is yet to formally leave the party. He only quit the party but not resigned. We are yet to be informed about this.

“Whatever he has done is deemed to have been done under duress and for political reasons. Those who pushed him into it failed to recognise the fact that the moment one is enlisted in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) published list, there is no going back.

“Afuye still remains deputy governorship candidate of the party until the Electoral Act decides otherwise. I hope he will retrace his steps back to ADP. If he really wants to leave, he must follow the process as dictated by the electoral law. I am sure APC is aware of this.”

“So, if it is not politically expedient and permissible, he will not go scot-free. If not, the status quo remains.”

While stating that people believed women deserve to occupy the position after the creation of the state 24 years ago, she said there is no form of propaganda that can stop her.

Elebute-Halle, who revealed that APC had been approaching her to join them, while others claimed she was working for SDP, said she had invested so much time and resources into the race such that there is no place for being a sell-out.

“I will never betray the confidence my teeming supporter’s repose in me, even if I will be the only one to vote for myself on the day of the election,” she said.

On the claim by Afuye that he left ADP to APC with 20,000 supporters, she said: “Afuye brought only himself to ADC and left only with himself. He never brought anybody to the party and nobody went with him.”