Ekiti State House of Assembly aspirant, Princess Jumoke Owoola, has said that the All Progressives Congress has not endorsed candidates for the party’s primaries.
In a statement, Owoola faulted the list of consensus candidates said to have been circulated in the media, saying she and other contestants were not parties to any consensus arrangement.
She said, “The adoption of the so-called consensus candidate is a mere ruse, as well as an attempt to discourage other intending aspirants without godfathers from making their contributions to their different communities.
“There has never been any time some people were considered consensus candidates. What happened weeks back was that we were told at one of the meetings initiated by the party leaders to go for the consensus arrangement and we rejected the suggestion.
“We all agreed to go back and work with our people and meet later on the field. But why run to the media with such a list? Who signed it? At what level or forum? Some of us were at the Party secretariat on Monday to meet the trio of the Party Chairman, his Vice and the woman leader. I can quote all of them telling us to attend the Reconciliatory Parley in order to table our grievances.”
Owoola revealed that she had merely responded to the call of her people to vie for the state legislative seat and thus called on the leaders of the APC in Ekiti to withdraw the consensus list.
“We are calling on our leaders to withdraw the consensus list and complete the reconciliation process. The party may have preferences but imposition will never work. What we want are justice, equity and fair play,” Owoola stressed.
One of the aggrieved aspirants, Mrs. Yetunde Adamu said, “Hand-picking candidates give room for mediocrity and many communities are aggrieved with this consensus arrangement.
“I am fighting on principle and not against personalities. Dr Kayode Fayemi promised us direct primary. At what point did it change to consensus? The party should allow us to test our popularity on the field. I have suffered to make my party popular in my domain”
Another aspirant, Mrs Mary Oso said, “We should all sit down and decide on consensus. They ought to have called us because I don’t understand the kind of politics they are playing. Nobody has ever sat down in my constituency on such a matter, why the hand-picking?”
David Adewole, who is aspiring to represent Ekiti Southwest two in the legislative chamber said, “The leaders in Igbara-Odo organised a screening committee for all the 11 aspirants and I came first as the consensus candidate. My name was sent to the party, but to my surprise, the person who came seventh in the screening has been picked as the consensus candidate.
“Ordinarily, the person is not even known to the town, not to talk of winning the election for the party. He has never attended any meeting in Igbara-Odo.”