Rotimi Ojomoyela
Ado-Ekiti
Th e adoption of the Deputy Governor of Ekiti state, Prof.
Kolapo Olusola, as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been described as a challenge to the APC on the need to uphold zoning in the coming election.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Barr Ajayi Olowo, said the APC-led government under former Governor Kayode Fayemi did excellently well in terms of infrastructural provision in the state , pointing out that the only snag had been that the government didn’t fraternise well enough with the downtrodden masses.
People from the southern senatorial district have been advocating for zoning of the governorship ticket to the zone in 2018 on the basis of equity, justice and fair play.
On the large number of aspirants coming out for the governorship election in APC, Olowo said: “most of them are pretenders, who will not even pass the screening of the party for the primaries.
” Olowo, who spoke in Ado Ekiti yesterday while unveiling his intention to vie for the plum position, said he was not contesting based on the fact that he was from Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti south senatorial district, where agitations for zoning was high and deafening.
“My contesting this election is not predicated primarily on southern agenda, because I feared that that will make the south to be battle field.
I am in support of the best candidate to emerge but I am not against it.
“If the stakeholders meet and said power should shift to the south, then the party can set up criteria and if the aspirants.
One thing is sure; there is no best quality people are looking out for that you can’t get in the south.
“But we have accepted the reality that the adoption of Prof Olusola from the south by Governor Ayodele Fayose and the PDP has put the APC on the spot.
It has pushed the APC to a point where it has no choice than to pick its candidate from the zone.
” He said governance in Ekiti has gone beyond pedestrianism by only fraternizing with the downtrodden, saying “we should empower them as well , that is the essence of governance and if it doesn’t get to this level, then it has not got to the beneficial point”.
