Scores of members of the Labour Party (LP) in Ekiti State, yesterday, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), alleging lack of internal democracy in their former party.

They pledged to work for the victory of the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, in the June 18, 2022 election.

The defected members, led by the state LP Chairman, Banji Omotoso, who were received by Chairman, Contact and Mobilisation Committee of the Biodun Oyebanji Campaign Organisation, Chief Olajide Awe, at JKF Centre, Ajilosun, Ado-Ekiti, said they were attracted to the APC by the pedigree, quality and personality of Oyebanji who, according to them, possessed the experience to continue the developmental strides being witnessed in the state.

Awe, while addressing the new party members, welcomed their decision to join the APC. He said they would be accorded the rights and privileges enjoyed by old members in the party.

Omotosho, who spoke earlier, said they joined the APC having scrutinised all party candidates and believed in the ability of Oyebanji to take governance in the state to a higher pedestal.

MEANWHILE, the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, yesterday, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to put an end to monetisation of electoral process in the state.

This was just as the INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said that the commission would be neutral during the election, and that every vote of Ekiti electorate would count.

The immediate past Chairman of the Council and Alawe of Ilawe- Ekiti, Oba Ajibade Alabi, who spoke on behalf of the Ekiti monarchs in Ado-Ekiti during an interface with the chairman of INEC, urged Yakubu to see to how the trend could be curtailed and restore sanity to electioneering process.

Yakubu, while addressing the monarchs, said 989,202 voters had been registered in Ekiti by INEC, out of which over 740,000 had procured their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in readiness for the election.

The INEC boss said that the commission would conduct the governorship poll alongside the botched Ekiti State Assembly by- election in Ekiti East Constituency.