Ekiti APC in Crisis: Concerned Stakeholders Appeal for Presidential Lifeline

Concerned stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State have written an open appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding a review of the primary election process that led to the disqualification of Kayode Ojo, an engineer, from the forthcoming primaries.

The APC had on October 9 disqualified two contenders for its governorship ticket ahead of the party’s primary election in Ekiti State. The deputy national publicity secretary of the party, Duro Meseko had announced this to newsmen after the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

He said the incumbent governor, Abiodun Oyebanji and another aspirant, Mrs Atinuke Oluremi Omolayo, were cleared for the primary, while Kayode Ojo and Mrs Abimbola Olajumoke Olawunmi were disqualified.

Meseko had simply said the two aspirants were disqualified for failing to comply with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended). Analysts said the move had cleared the path for Oyebanji to secure the party’s ticket, as Ojo, who is considered his strongest challenger, has been eliminated from the race.

The primary election is scheduled for October 27 while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed July 20, 2026 for the main election. But in a petition titled, “An open appeal for your intervention to protect the unity, integrity and popularity of APC in Ekiti State,” dated October 22, 2025 and addressed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Concerned APC Stakeholders in Ekiti State argued that the screening exercise was manipulated to unfairly disqualify Ojo.

They stated that the action was threatening the peace, cohesion and unity of the APC in Ekiti State, which if not addressed, could have a negative impact on the performance of the party in the governorship election.

In their prayers, the stakeholders asked President Tinubu to “Direct the NWC to supervise the revalidation of the membership of thousands of committed members whose names were unjustly deleted from the Ekiti APC membership register in order to reinvigorate our party at the grassroots and assure all members of the party’s commitment to impartiality and the tenets of internal democracy.”

They also asked Tunubu to “promptly order an independent review of Ekiti State APC primary election process and all the gross violations of the APC constitution and the democratic rights of party members in Ekiti State, as well as a review of the process that led to the disqualification of Kayode Ojo from contesting the state governorship primary election in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution; direct that all party officials who have displayed open bias for an aspirant or found to be culpable in the violation of the APC constitution during the current primary election process should recuse themselves from all the remaining activities – official and unofficial – relating to the Ekiti State governorship primary election in order to preserve fairness, transparency and integrity of the primary election; ensure a level-playing field for all aspirants ahead of the forthcoming governorship primary election; ensure that a credible panel of seasoned parry leaders who enjoy the confidence of all the aspirants and party stakeholders is assigned to conduct/supervise the coming primary election.”

The APC stakeholders who signed the petition are the pioneer Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adekola Adefemi; coordinator, Adekunle Fajuyi Education Trust, Mrs Monica Adesola Fajuyi-Olajuyigbe; commissioner, Federal Character Commission, Chief Sesan Fatoba; pioneer minority leader of the State Assembly, Lanre Fayemi; pioneer Deputy Speaker, Opeyemi Ajayi; and a member of the House of Representatives, Ropo Ige.

Others are the federal commissioner, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Prof Afolabi Popoola; chairman, Ado Local Government Area, Mrs Motunde Fajuyi; chairman, Ekiti State Pensions Commission, Olukayode Oluyemo; and member, Ekiti State Sports Development Trust Fund, Mrs Olufunke Babalola.