Oyebanji Speaks On Emerging As Ekiti APC Flagbearer

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, has reacted to the outcome of the party’s primary election conducted on Thursday.

Naija News reports that the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), amassed 101,703 votes to emerge the party’s flagbearer in the forthcoming governorship election.

In an interview on Arise News programme, The Morning Show, on Friday, Oyebanji denied being the anointed candidate of Governor Kayode Fayemi, adding that other aspirants also have a close relationship with the governor.

The former SSG also refuted claims that the governor was behind his emergence as the party’s governorship candidate in the state, saying that Fayemi is the leader of the party.

Speaking further, Oyebanji dismissed the allegations by seven aggrieved aspirants that the primary election committee was made up of the governor’s loyalists.

He argued that all aspirants were given “a level-playing field,” and the election was held “in accordance with guidelines of the party”.

He said: “A level-playing field was provided for all the contestants. We had a stakeholder meeting a day before the election, and we agreed on the mode of engagement — all aspirants agreed. And left from the meeting to my village to vote. And the report I got yesterday, from all the 177 wards, is that people came out and they were accredited in accordance with guidelines of the party, and they were counted and the result as been declared,” he said.

“In response to the protest by the seven other aspirants, I recognised their rights to protest and know that the party has built an internal mechanism to resolve the issue. I’m confident that all those issues will be resolved.

“Fayemi is the party leader in the state, and there’s no party member that doesn’t have a relationship with him. I’ve known him for 20 years. And I’ve worked with him for seven years. In those seven years, he’s given various assignments in various ministries and capacities, and I discharged my duty. But that does not give me an exclusive preserve of relationship with him. All of us in the race have one relationship with governor Fayemi, and we’re all close to him.”