The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pasted the final roster for next June’s Ekiti governorship race on its Ado-Ekiti office notice board, and Wole Oluyede’s name is nowhere to be found.
Oluyede, a medical doctor who polled 279 votes to win last November’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary, was left off the 12-candidate list released Monday. Accord, African Action Congress, Action Democratic Party, African Democratic Congress, All Progressives Congress, Action People’s Party, Allied People’s Movement, Labour Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, People’s Redemption Party, Young Progressive Party and Zenith Labour Party all made the cut, with their running mates listed beside them.
The snub is the latest fallout from the PDP’s bruising leadership feud. One camp rallies behind Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi); the other lines up behind Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike. Last week INEC rebuffed a plea to recognise the Kabiru Turaki-led national working committee that Makinde and Mohammed back, pointing to several court orders that bar the commission from tampering with PDP records until suits over the party’s November Ibadan convention are settled.
