Ekiti 2022: Bamidele urges supporters to liberate Ekiti

One of the aspirants in the just-concluded All Progressives Congress, (APC) Governorship primary in Ekiti, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, has urged his supporters to be resolute in the quest to rescue the state.
Bamidele described as rather unfortunate that the process of conducting the governorship primary was hijacked, truncated, compromised, and bastardised by those at the helm of affairs in Ekiti.

The APC chieftain and governorship aspirant said this on Sunday in a message made available to newsmen in which he thanked his supporters.

In the message, entitled: “Thank You All and I Urge You to Stand Firm on Your Feet for It is no Longer About An Individual Aspiration, But Our Collective Ambition to Liberate Ekiti and Make Her Light Shine Again.”

He alleged that there was no governorship primary in Ekiti at all, but rather a fraudulent and fictitious vote count.

“A critical assessment of our campaign strategy showed that we positively reached out to our people in all nooks and crannies of Ekiti 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, Jan. 27, but yet, rather results were announced based on concocted and fictitious vote counts.

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

He decried the level of impunity, desperation and rigging that characterised the gubernatorial primary held by APC in Ekiti.

He added that the desperation to win beclouded the perpetrators so much that he was alloted 700 plus votes in a statewide gubernatorial primary election where he had scored more than 90,000 votes in just one out of three Senatorial Districts to emerge as a Senator.

He boasted that in his three years as a senator, he had done much more to earn the confidence and greater love of the people through effective representation on the floor of the Senate.

He wondered how he could score as low as the figure allotted to him in the governorship primary exercise after all his development projects and programmes which had impacted positively on the people.

He said, “more specifically, the breakdown of the votes alloted 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 2011 to represent Ado/Irepodun-Ifelodun Federal Constituency.”

He called on his supporters not to waver, but take immediate steps within the confines of our party constitution and the law to seek redress for this blatant abuse of trust and due process.

Bamidele, therefore, called for calm while he is on quest to seek an amicable resolution to this impasse, saying his supporters and loved ones must continue to pray that justice and truth will prevail for the benefit of the people of Ekiti.

He said, “I most specially, appreciate your acts of selfless service, commitment of resources, time and efforts to ensure victory for us at the primary.

“Dear Compatriots and Stakeholders, to begin with, I will like to give thanks to God Almighty for His grace and fortitude that has brought us this far in our political journey together.”

He expressed his appreciation to APC structure at all levels for their continued supports at ensuring the tenets of democracy are continuously entrenched in the political entities and governance of Ekiti.

He further thanked his teeming supporters, family, kinsmen, distinguished colleagues, friends, loved ones, party elders and members of Team M. O. B. as well as Destiny Helpers from all walks of life and the Think Thank Vision group, for their unflinching support in our preparations for the gubernatorial primaries.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters, said there is no doubt that Ekiti is today, groping in darkness, adding that they must all work together for a glorious dawn of light.

He said, “in working together, let us please not rely on our strength or wisdom, but on the wisdom and grace of God, drawing strength from the Holy Bible scripture as contained in 2 Chronicles: 20-12, which says, “We Do Not Know What to Do, but Our Eye are on God.

“In the spirit of togetherness, shall we run through this and make a statement for justice. Certainly, also, we shall celebrate at the end of it all by the special grace of God. I thank you all.”