Brave Dickson
Yorubas in Rivers State have blamed the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in last Saturday’s Ekiti State governorship election on wrong candidate.
Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress defeated 15 other candidates that partook in the exercise to emerge the winner.
Oyebanji, who is the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, won in 15 out of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state with a total of 187,057 votes.
However, his closest challenger, Segun Oni, of the Social Democratic Party, scored 82,211 votes while the candidate of the PDP, Bisi Kolawole, scored 67,457 votes to clinch third.
The Leader of the Yoruba Community in the Three Kalabari LGAs of Rivers State, Olaiya Abiodun told our correspondent that he is an indigene of Ekiti State who was once a member of PDP, adding that the PDP candidate was never a good party man.
The Yoruba leader said, “Kolawole was a former member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, a commissioner, and a former chairman of the PDP who did nothing to unite his people.
“He was imposed on the party to run for governor because of his close relationship with former Governor Ayodele Fayose.
“The defeat of Kolawole and his party, PDP did not come as a surprise to us who had earlier predicted it to happen this way.”
The Yoruba leader therefore advised political parties to go after people-oriented candidates if they intend winning elections.
