Friday, March 29, 2024

Ekiti PDP to boycott local polls, says APC ward congresses ‘marred with violence’

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has declared that it will not participate in the forthcoming local government election into various positions in the state’s 16 Local Government Areas and the newly created 19 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), claiming that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is synonyms with violence.

In a swift reaction, the APC State Publicity Secretary, Hon Ade Ajayi, said that the boycott substantiated the fact that the PDP is overwhelmed by the achievements of Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) has fixed December 4 for the election.

The State Working Committee of the PDP led by the Chairman, Hon Lanre Omolase, after a crucial meeting with the party stakeholders, on Thursday, mandated all PDP members to boycott the council poll, warning that the ruling APC is not capable of conducting any peaceful, free and fair democratic contest without violence.

The PDP in a statement on Friday, by its State Publicity Secretary, Raphael Adeyanju, described the ruling party as a nest of blood-sucking monsters who do not discriminate between the opposition and their own members when thirsty for blood.

The opposition party alleged the results of the elections have been predetermined by the APC.

‘If party members don’t hesitate to kill one another during their congresses and primary elections, what should an opposition party expect in a general election? The APC is populated by violent individuals that don’t believe in free and fair elections.’

The opposition party also alleged that the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) is not an impartial umpire, because it failed to adequately inform other parties about the local government election.

‘How can the Ekiti SIEC convince us of impartiality when it is ready to conduct elections in the new LCDAs that were created for political reasons without considering their viability? Why did it take Governor Kayode Fayemi this long to create the LCDAs? We are not going to be part of this electoral fraud.

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‘We cannot forget in a hurry that the last APC ward congress in the state was marred with violence across the 177 wards in Ekiti State, leading to the death of one man, named Oluwaseun Olajide and serious body injuries inflicted on many people.

‘Recently in March 2021, some APC sponsored thugs invaded a polling unit in Omuo-Ekiti, during the House of Assembly bye-election in Ekiti East constituency 1 conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), they killed three persons including a police officer.’

But Ajayi described the PDP as comprising ‘a bunch of hypocrites,’ stating that the ruling party would have loved that the impending local government elections are made to be highly competitive, stressing that the party won’t force the opposition to participate in the LG polls.

‘If they said they are not going to participate, that is their own cup of tea. We won’t force them. That was a signal that they have been rejected by the Ekiti people.

‘If you go round the State, you will see what Governor Fayemi is doing in terms of projects everywhere. The APC popularity is soaring by the day and that has got the PDP confounded, hence, the withdrawal, because of the fear that their party would lose all the chairmanship and councillorship seats to our great party.

‘Let me say this expressly, come 2022, the APC will have a resounding victory in the governorship election in Ekiti State. So, that is their headache,’ Ajayi said.

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