30th March, 2014
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti state said on Sunday that Mr Ayo Fayose remained the party’s candidate for the June 21 governorship election in the state.
The state executive of the party made the clarification in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Kolawole, in Ado-Ekiti.
It came on the heels of reports that some aggrieved aspirants of the party met in Abuja at the weekend and elected Sen. Gbenga Aluko as their consensus candidate.
Kolawole described the purported emergence of a consensus candidate in Abuja for the election as “not only a ruse, but an attempt to mislead the public.’’
He said that the action of the aggrieved aspirants, who chose a consensus candidate in Abuja, was contemptuous of the National Secretariat of the party.
The spokesman said that the national secretariat had not only ratified Fayose’s candidature, but had also issued him a Certificate of Return.
Kolawole described the action of the aggrieved aspirants as “an effort in futility.’’
“The PDP national secretariat, INEC and other agencies that supervised the party’s primaries where Fayose was picked have not said anything to the contrary till date,’’ he said.
Kolawole noted that the National Working Committee of the party had since studied and approved the report of the Dr Peter Odili-led panel that conducted the primaries
The publicity secretary urged all aggrieved persons in the party in the state to channel their complaints through proper channels for amicable resolution.
He said it was regretful that the aggrieved aspirants took the action after the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, had appealed to them to team up and reconcile with Fayose.