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Ekiti APC: Elders Call For Mass Voting On May 11th

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APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (Photo File)

Ekiti primaries: Elders Reject Aspirants Push For A Postponement

Elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southwest have called for mass voting at the Ekiti primaries which is slated for tomorrow. The call was made as they met to decide how to pick the party’s candidate for the July 14 Ekiti State governorship election.

Majority of the aspirants at a stakeholders meeting on Tuesday agreed to a direct primary which allows all card-carrying members of the party in the 177 wards to have the opportunity of voting in the primary.

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The aspirants canvassed that “direct primary election is more transparent, less monetised and energises the democratic system through the participation and involvement of the generality of the party members”.

Tuesday’s meeting was as a result of Saturday’s disrupted primary election.

However, party elders shelved the direct primary idea, “given the extent of planning and logistics involved and the closeness of the deadline for the conduct of primaries by all political parties as well as submission of names of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

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The elders — Chief Bisi Akande, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Pius Akinyelure — in a statement, said they had agreed to the primary election to be held tomorrow as announced by the National Working Committee (NWC) after a meeting with party Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun in company with two of the aspirants – Chief Segun Oni and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele.

According to the elder’s statement , “The leaders, having been assured by both the National Chairman of the party as well as His Excellency, Governor Tanko Al-Makura that the rejuvenated Primary Election Committee would put new and extra measures in place to ensure a restoration of the integrity of the electoral process aimed at producing a credible candidate with the highest number of votes.

“In view of this, the entire leadership of the party from the South West geo-political region hereby calls on all the delegates in Ekiti State to ensure full and active participation at the primary election on Friday.

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“We also encourage delegates to vote according to their conscience and ensure that the process is not monetised in the overall interest of our party, the growth of our democracy and consistent with our progressive tradition which our people are noted for.

“The Aspirants themselves are enjoined to shun all manner of sharp practices and avoid any resort to violence during the rescheduled primaries.”

Naija News gathered that some aspirants for the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary slated for tomorrow are canvassing for a shift of the shadow poll till Sunday.

They made the request at a meeting with members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party yesterday in Abuja.

Ajayi Olowo, one of the aspirants, who spoke to reporters after the meeting, said the date shift request was made because they needed time to get back to the their constituencies.

However, the National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi said the aspirants’ date change request might not be granted since INEC’s deadline for submission of the candidate’s name is May 15.