Ex-SSG, Oyebanji emerges APC guber candidate

Hon Biodun Oyebanji

Former Secretary to Ekiti State Government, Biodun Oyebanji on Thursday emerged winner of the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), after pulling majority of the votes from the 16 local government of the State.

Announcing the results of the poll at the APC Party Secretariat in Ado Ekiti, the Chairman of the Ekiti Governorship Election Panel and Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru, declared Oyebanji winner of the election, adding that the process followed all the modalities agreed upon by all the contestants during a stakeholder meeting with the contestants and other party leaders on Wednesday.

According to him, Oyebanji emerged winner after pulling a total 101,703 out of the 104,983 total votes cast to defeat other seven contestants including a serving Senator, Hon Michael Opeyemi Bamidele and a member of the House of Representative, Hon Femi Bamisile.

The breakdown of the result saw Engineer Kayode Ojo, (767); Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (760); Prince Dayo Adeyeye (691); Rt. Hon Femi Bamisile, (400); Otunba Demola Popoola, (239); and Toyin Afolabi Olusola (47).

The Panel Chairman explained that all the contestants had input into the process the election was conducted.

“We satisfied all the conditions and all the guidelines for this primary. I invited all the aspirants for a meeting on Wednesday and all issues relating to the guidelines of this primary were discussed and was agreed upon by all the contestants. We have the video where I asked if they are all satisfied with the process and they all agreed.

“We members of the committee are seven and we are supposed to engage the local party members for them to work with us and this issue of dissatisfaction with local party working committee was raised at Wednesday meeting where we asked them to nominate 20 each so that we can add to what we have or reduce from what we have and put in this people in the list and also almost all of them have sent down list of twenty members and were incorporated in the exercise”

Meanwhile, the winner of the APC governorship primary, Hon Biodun Oyebanji has declared his victory as “a win for all and a win for participatory democracy” with a promise to work together with other aspirants to ensure victory of the party in the coming gubernatorial poll in the State.

Speaking with Journalists in Ado Ekiti shortly after he was declared winner, Hon Oyebanji commended members of the APC for thronging out in their large numbers to participate in the electoral process as a sign of deepening the internal democracy of the party.

He promised to jealously guide the confidence reposed in him. He also said his campaign would be issue-based and would dwell on track records of competence, compassion, character and visions for moving the State forward.

Oyebanji said: “I consider this a win for us all, and a win for participatory democracy, especially because all party members were given the opportunity to speak with their votes on account of the modified Open Secret Ballot System (Option A4), also known as Direct Primaries that was adopted.

“Your participation in the process has served to strengthen our party, through the mobilisation of many voices. During contests such as this, tensions are understandably high, and tempers rise in all quarters. This is all normal in the course of democratic expression. I hereby promise my fellow aspirants that together, we will work towards victory and a bright future for our people.

“I will be reaching out personally to seek audience with everyone of you in the coming days. I want to listen to you, so that together we can fit in our respective parts of the big picture and run a wholesome campaign that connects with the hearts and minds of our people.”