Opeyemi Bamidele: There was no APC guber primary in Ekiti — I was allotted votes

Opeyemi Bamidele, a serving senator and governorship aspirant in Ekiti, says there was no primary election for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

The senator had called for the cancellation of the exercise after alleging that the primary election committee was made up of loyalists of Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti governor.

He and other aspirants withdrew from the exercise, while Biodun Oyebanji, a former secretary to the Ekiti state government, was later declared winner of the poll.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Bamidele thanked his supporters but described the exercise as “a fraudulent and fictitious vote count”.

“Unfortunately, the process of conducting these primaries was hijacked, truncated, compromised and bastardised by those at the helm of affairs in Ekiti State, which is tantamount to a complete abuse of trust and leadership,” the statement reads.

“Judging from a critical assessment of our campaign strategy by positively reaching out to our people in all nooks and crannies of Ekiti State to push our progressive message, I had no doubt in my mind that we were coasting to victory had the process been transparent and fair.

“It is public knowledge that no primary election took place on Thursday, 27th January, 2022 but yet, rather disappointedly, results were announced based on concocted and fictitious vote counts.

“The underlining level of impunity, desperation and perfidy which characterised the entire rigging process was so much and thought beclouding that I was allotted 700 plus votes in a state-wide gubernatorial primary election in a state where I had scored over 94,000 votes in just one out of three senatorial districts to emerge as a senator.

“This was less than three years ago and after then, I had done much more to earn the confidence and greater love of the people through effective representation on the floor of the senate as well as life touching empowerment programmes and constituency development projects.

“More specifically, the breakdown of the votes allotted to me indicated that I got 150 votes in Ado Ekiti, my beloved second home, where I had recorded 28,000 votes out of the 42,000 votes that gave me the house of representatives mandate way back in year 2011 to represent Ado/Irepodun-Ifelodun federal constituency.

“But we will remain resolute, strong, focused and faithful in the face of this impunity, total lack of regard for the electoral due process and executive rascality by a chosen few who were elected to represent the interests of Ekiti people.”

While urging his supporters to remain calm, Bamidele said he would take steps to challenge the outcome of the primary election.