APC governorship candidate, Biodun Oyebanji, has said Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti state governor, was uninvolved in his emergence as the standard-bearer of the party in the state.
He said this on Friday while speaking with Arise TV.
Oyebanji emerged as APC’s governorship candidate after polling 101,703 votes in the primary election conducted on Saturday.
Prior to the election, seven aspirants had withdrawn from the race, alleging that the primary election committee was made up of loyalists of Fayemi.
However, he stated said aspirants were given a level-playing field in the election which was conducted in accordance with guidelines of the party.
“A level-playing field was provided for all the contestants. We had a stakeholder meeting a day before the election, and we agreed on the mode of engagement — all aspirants agreed. And left from the meeting to my village to vote. And the report I got yesterday, from all the 177 wards, is that people came out and they were accredited in accordance with guidelines of the party, and they were counted and the result as been declared.
“In response to the protest by the seven other aspirants, I recognized their rights to protest and know that the party has built an internal mechanism to resolve the issue. I’m confident that all those issues will be resolved.
“Fayemi is the party leader in the state, and there’s no party member that doesn’t have a relationship with him. I’ve known him for 20 years. And I’ve worked with him for seven years. In those seven years, he’s given various assignments in various ministries and capacities, and I discharged my duty. But that does not give me an exclusive preserve of relationship with him. All of us in the race have one relationship with governor Fayemi, and we’re all close to him,” he said.
