February 13, (THEWILL) – The defection of former APC Gubernatorial aspirant, Dr Wole Oluyede, to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has been described as a child of necessity, borne out of the alleged bungled primary election conducted by the ruling party in Ekiti State.
Oluyede has since been elected as ADC Gubernatorial Candidate in the Ekiti State June 18, election.
Mr Gboyega Adeoye, head of Media to the ADC gubernatorial candidate, stated this at a press parley in Ado Ekiti on Saturday.
Adeoye who insisted that no election was held by the two major political parties in Ekiti said, “A situation where the people’s rights were not respected, where an intra-party election was being hijacked by those who believed they have the machineries of the state to manipulate and oppress other aspirants can never be said to be a primary election. What happened to me is nothing but a charade.”
Speaking on his principal’s defection to the ADC, Adeoye said, “Our defection to ADC is what I can call a child of necessity. We were members of APC. Dr Wole Oluyede was an aspirant of APC but what we saw before others realised it was a situation whereby it would be a winner takes it all as it used to be and that was why we moved fast to relocate to another party, where we can assert ourselves.
“Democracy is about the people, but when the people’s voice become suppressed, then it is instructive for us to have a rethink which is what we have done.
Responding to the question on the public perception of ADC as relatively unknown party in Ekiti State, Adeoye explained that the calibre of people in a political platform determines the popularity of the party.
He said; “Political party is not about the name or the emblem, but mainly about the people that make up the party and that is what we have done to make a difference by pushing the ADC to the front burner and to let the generality of Ekiti people know that the party exists and can provide the needed alternative to the existing recycled and spent two major parties.”
On the ongoing agitation for a third force to wrestle power from the ruling party, the party’s spokesperson revealed that talks are going on at the topmost level about possible mergers of all parties in the camp of third force ahead of the June 18 governorship election.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
