By Rotimi Ojomoyela
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election, Oluwole Oluyede, has vowed to fight his omission from the list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the poll.
Oluyede, who spoke on Wednesday at a press conference in his hometown in Ikere-Ekiti, said the national electoral body has no constitutional power to omit his name from the list of candidates for the election.
He explained that the electoral body was formally notified of the conduct of its governorship primary election and actively monitored the exercise, adding that the process complied with the electoral laws.
His words: “That came as a surprise to me in the sense that my emergence as the candidate of the PDP was witnessed by INEC. They supervised it and wrote a report. In actual fact, there have been suits against the election in which they came to swear an affidavit that I was the candidate of the party.
“I am not aware of any reason that should preclude me from the election. As far as I know, there is no court injunction, there are no court orders that should preclude me from that election, and I don’t think INEC is in a position to determine who should be the nominee of a party. They haven’t been doing that before, and I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t think it’s the duty of INEC to do that.”
Oluyede further disclosed that he is still consulting with the relevant stakeholders on the next steps to follow, while assuring Ekiti electorates not to panic, saying that he is poised to be on the ballot for the poll.
“At this time, I am still consulting, and my consultations will even include talking to INEC, writing them letters to ask them questions about why they took that action. I am consulting with the party structure, and once I am advised on what to do, I will take action.
“As for the many supporters of mine in Ekiti, I want to reassure you that I am going to be the next governor of Ekiti State, which means I am going to be on the next ballot. I don’t want anybody to panic and worry about it. It’s a normal process of elections. I know people will play games, and I understand their games, but it is a game of futility that wouldn’t go anywhere.
“My advice to those who are trying to preclude people from contesting with them is that it’s not really the way to do it. Elections are meant to give people an opportunity to choose their government. If anybody wants to contest, they should contest based on the people’s choices, not by precluding others from contesting against them.
“If you are sure you have done well for your people or you have the ability to rule, then you should have the confidence to go on an election. It is not right to disenfranchise people who want to express their will. Ekiti people should protest against this, and it’s going on for too long. I am aware of a political party that actually disenfranchise their members. I am not going to allow it. I will fight with every being that I have.
“PDP is the largest party in Ekiti. There are issues with why they lost elections, and those issues have been removed from our party. The rotten eggs in our party have been removed either by themselves or by natural selection of goodness. We are a solid party, and we are standing together, and we are ready to win the next elections.”
The post Ekiti Guber: I’ll fight my omission from INEC’s list – PDP’s Oluyede vows appeared first on Vanguard News.
