Ekiti primary: Opeyemi Bamidele halts plan to sue APC, says he won’t defect

Opeyemi Bamidele, senator representing Ekiti central, says he has suspended the plan to sue the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the conduct of its primary election in the state.

Bamidele was among the seven governorship aspirants that pulled out of the party’s primary election last month.

The senator had described the election as “a fraudulent and fictitious vote count” after Biodun Oyebanji, a former secretary to the Ekiti state government, was declared the winner of the poll.

He had subsequently said he would take steps to challenge the outcome of the primary election.

But in a statement he personally signed on Friday, Bamidele said he has decided to “drop the option” of taking the party to court, adding that he won’t dump the party.

“As it is today, whatever I decide to do and in whichever direction I choose to go, it is clear that I cannot possibly respond in a way that will satisfy all the shades of opinion or make all the tendencies, with varying and sometimes conflicting perspectives, simultaneously happy,” the statement reads.

“I, therefore, choose this day to make some final decisions based on my personal convictions and accept responsibility for them. Sometimes, leadership is also about standing up to posit even when such positions may not be popular with some or even the majority of our admirers and supporters at the very beginning and in the face of initial and raging anger and disappointment.

“Has my position changed on the fact that what took place in Ekiti on the night of Wednesday, 26 and the morning of Thursday, 27 January, 2022 in the name of Governorship primaries was a charade and sheer impunity? No.

“I still strongly hold the position that it was a mockery of democracy that should be condemned by all means. Am I happy with the present political situation in Ekiti? Not at all. Am I hurting like many genuine Democrats are doing in Ekiti today? Yes.

“Am I convinced that failure or any further hesitation on the part of the national leadership of APC to specifically and decisively address the current and previous crises in Ekiti state would amount to playing the Ostrich and waiting for a DOOM’S DAY? Yes. Am I giving up on the ongoing struggle for justice and internal party democracy in Ekiti state? Never.

“Yet, in spite of my strong convictions as expressed above, I have come to some irreversible conclusions and these are the messages I need to pass on to all and sundry today as I temporarily break my Silence on the way forward.

“One is to say that have I chosen to drop the option of going to court to sue the party. The other is to make it crystal clear to everyone that both my supporters and I will not defect from APC. Details of the reasons which informed these choices will be communicated at a later date when my supporters and I address Ekiti people and Nigerians at large. It is not just about me. It is about the unity and progress of Ekiti State and her politically undermined and economically afflicted people.

“It is also about ensuring that the ground is not prepared for reactionary beneficiaries to take advantage of seeming lack of capacity to manage our affairs as a ruling party in the state.

“I also must coordinate and lead my own aspect of this popular struggle in a way to ensure that my Supporters and stakeholders who had been isolated from the mainstream of the party become relevant again, for anything short of that can only be a highway to nowhere.

“We have all contributed so much to building this party in Ekiti State and the management, as well as its decision-making process, cannot be an exclusive preserve of a few.”