Opeyemi Bamidele, senator representing Ekiti central, says
he has suspended the plan to sue the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the
conduct of its primary election in the state.
Bamidele was among the seven governorship aspirants that
pulled out of the party’s primary election last month.
The senator had described the election as “a fraudulent and
fictitious vote count” after Biodun Oyebanji, a former secretary to the Ekiti
state government, was declared the winner of the poll.
He had subsequently said he would take steps to challenge
the outcome of the primary election.
But in a statement he personally signed on Friday, Bamidele
said he has decided to “drop the option” of taking the party to court, adding
that he won’t dump the party.
“As it is today, whatever I decide to do and in whichever
direction I choose to go, it is clear that I cannot possibly respond in a way
that will satisfy all the shades of opinion or make all the tendencies, with
varying and sometimes conflicting perspectives, simultaneously happy,” the
statement reads.
“I, therefore, choose this day to make some final decisions
based on my personal convictions and accept responsibility for them. Sometimes,
leadership is also about standing up to posit even when such positions may not
be popular with some or even the majority of our admirers and supporters at the
very beginning and in the face of initial and raging anger and disappointment.
“Has my position
changed on the fact that what took place in Ekiti on the night of Wednesday, 26
and the morning of Thursday, 27 January, 2022 in the name of Governorship
primaries was a charade and sheer impunity? No.
“I still strongly hold the position that it was a mockery of
democracy that should be condemned by all means. Am I happy with the present
political situation in Ekiti? Not at all. Am I hurting like many genuine
Democrats are doing in Ekiti today? Yes.
“Am I convinced that failure or any further hesitation on
the part of the national leadership of APC to specifically and decisively
address the current and previous crises in Ekiti state would amount to playing
the Ostrich and waiting for a DOOM’S DAY? Yes. Am I giving up on the ongoing struggle
for justice and internal party democracy in Ekiti state? Never.
“Yet, in spite of my strong convictions as expressed above,
I have come to some irreversible conclusions and these are the messages I need
to pass on to all and sundry today as I temporarily break my Silence on the way
forward.
“One is to say that
have I chosen to drop the option of going to court to sue the party. The other
is to make it crystal clear to everyone that both my supporters and I will not
defect from APC. Details of the reasons which informed these choices will be
communicated at a later date when my supporters and I address Ekiti people and
Nigerians at large. It is not just about me. It is about the unity and progress
of Ekiti State and her politically undermined and economically afflicted
people.
“It is also about ensuring that the ground is not prepared
for reactionary beneficiaries to take advantage of seeming lack of capacity to
manage our affairs as a ruling party in the state.
“I also must coordinate and lead my own aspect of this
popular struggle in a way to ensure that my Supporters and stakeholders who had
been isolated from the mainstream of the party become relevant again, for
anything short of that can only be a highway to nowhere.
“We have all contributed so much to building this party in
Ekiti State and the management, as well as its decision-making process, cannot
be an exclusive preserve of a few.”
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