APC says primary election in Ekiti not postponed amid calls for cancellation

  The Ekiti state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) says the governorship primary election in the state has not been postponed.   The state primary election is slated for today.   Earlier in the day, Opeyemi Bamidele, senator representing Ekiti central, asked the APC to cancel the primary election, alleging irregularities, high-handedness, intimidation, and state-induced violence characterising the exercise.   Bamidele alleged that those on the election committee are aides of Kayode Fayemi, the governor, who are working to ensure that Biodun Oyebanji, a governorship aspirant, gets the party’s ticket. Oyebanji is believed to be backed by Fayemi and Niyi Adebayo, minister of trade.   TheCable had also reported that seven governorship aspirants on the platform of the APC withdrew from the primary election over the allegation that the committee is made up of Fayemi’s loyalists.   In a statement, Victor Olabimtan, secretary of the primary election committee, said the exercise will take place as scheduled in all the 177 wards of the state.   The committee assured the public of a level-playing field for all aspirants.   “The Ekiti State APC governorship primary election Committee wishes to assure the general public that a level playing field that will guarantee fairness, openness and transparency has been adopted by the Committee,” the statement reads.   “It is an incontrovertible fact that every member of the appointed Electoral Officers for today’s primary election is a bonafide member of Ekiti State APC.   “You will recall that during the stakeholders’ meeting between the Committee, aspirants and others yesterday, this issue was raised and exhaustively discussed, and to reinforce confidence in the process, it was agreed that each aspirant should nominate 20 people each to be part of the process. All the aspirants took advantage of this window of opportunity and submitted the list of their nominated electoral officers. “All the submitted lists have been added to the existing arrangement, assigned into various wards and local governments. They have all been incorporated.”   The committee called on APC members in the state to go to their wards and exercise their voting rights “without fear or intimidation”.   “The adopted option A4 is the most transparent form of election,” it added.