The Peoples Democratic Party House of Assembly candidates in Ekiti State have appealed to the party’s National Working Committee not to abandon them to their fate in preparation for the 2023 general elections.
They said their plea was necessary to avert the fate suffered by the House of Assembly candidates in the state in 2019, who were left on their own and lost in the poll.
Condemning what they termed unnecessary rancour in the party, the candidates urged warring members to sheathe their swords, even as they called on the PDP NWC “to, as a matter of urgency, intervene in the Ekiti State chapter’s matter to avoid further disintegration and bandwagon effect this may cause in future elections.”
In a communiqué signed by the 24 candidates at the end of a meeting in Ado Ekiti, they said, “The PDP in the state should remain one indivisible party.
“We will work tirelessly for the Atiku Abubakar/Ifeanyi Okowa candidacy in 2023 and Ekiti people are, by this resolution, urged to stay calm and hopeful as the current situation in the state and Nigeria is just for the time being and will soon be fully resolved.
“We call on former governor Ayodele Fayose; former acting governor, Tunji Odeyemi; Senator Biodun Olujimi; former deputy governors, Prof Olusola-Eleka and Dr Sikiru Lawal; former governorship candidate, Otunba Bisi Kolawole, and other leaders in the state to work together in peace in the best interest of the party, its candidates in the 2023 elections and the suffering masses.
“Ekiti PDP members are saddened by the abysmal loss of the party in the last governorship election in the state and should not let this terrible loss shift our focus; instead, all members should stand by the party in the future elections.”
The candidates called on all the PDP leaders “to work out the best measures to resolve internal bickering,” adding that the duly recognised leadership hierarchy in the party should be respected in line with the constitutional provision to avoid political anarchy.
The state assembly candidates include Akin Abimbola (Ekiti West 1), Anjorin Olarenwaju (Ikole 1), Abraham Adeleye (Ekiti West 2), Bolarinwa Omolade (Ado 1), Opeyemi Ogundipe (Ado 2), Simi Olusola (Ikere 2), Daramola Johnson (Efon), Owoeye Oyeniyi (Ikere 1) and Stephen Kolade (Emure).
