Choose candidate from Ekiti South to avert failure, Bamisile advises APC

• PDP chieftain tasks NWC on direct primary to avoid litigations
• Says 2022 Ekiti election litmus test for Ayu’s leadership

A member of the House of Representatives and governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Femi Bamisile, has warned that there will be consequences if the party fails to pick its candidate from Ekiti South Senatorial District for the June 18, 2022 poll.

Bamisile, who is Chairman, House Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), spoke in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, while interacting with journalists on the January 27, 2022 APC gubernatorial primary.

He warned that the people of the South could no longer tolerate the conspiracy being contrived against them by the elite, with the way they were being alienated from the political equation and from producing the governor since 1999.

His words: “I don’t disagree with Governor Kayode Fayemi for anointing one of the aspirants, but the process for the emergence of such person must be credible and transparent. If Fayemi had picked even a councilor from the South as his candidate, I will not contest the election.

“I am hopeful that one of the three aspirants from the South will win the APC primary, but if anyone emerges outside the South, that will be the end of APC in Ekiti. I have visited many places and I know what Ekiti people are saying. They are ready for an APC candidate from the South.

Bamisile, a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, stated that he backed the direct primary model adopted by the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker Committee for the Ekiti APC primary.

MEANWHILE, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Ekiti State, Pastor Yemi Olayinka, has urged the Iyorchia Ayu-led national leadership of the party to adopt direct or super delegates primary to pick the party’s standard bearer, saying the option will make PDP to survive litigations that can result from other options.

The PDP chieftain, who spoke to newsmen in Ado Ekiti at the weekend, while reacting to the lingering crisis in the state chapter, warned that it could jeopardise the chance of PDP taking over the state if the controversial party executives and the ad-hoc delegates are used in the primary.

He said the Ekiti governorship election would be a litmus test for the Ayu-led National Working Committee (NWC), urging him to be firm, so that he won’t jeopardise APC chances in Ekiti and warned that there could be spillovers of whatever happens in Ekiti to Osun State.