We can win Ekiti LG poll without SIEC, APC boasts

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday boasted that it could with the Ekiti State council election slated for December 7 with any assistance from the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) and the state government.

APC said the council poll would offer it the opportunity to prove its popularity in the state by winning all the 16 chairmanship seats and 177 councillorship seats.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Ado Ekiti, the publicity secretary, Mr. Ade Ajayi, warned the SIEC not to engage in any illegal act during the electioneering, by assisting the opposition party to win.

“We are not taking any chances in the coming elections, as we have been campaigning vigorously at the grassroots. We have been moving across the 16 councils and the 177 wards in the state, and the presence of our party is being felt.

“We want to show the world that we are the only party on the ground. We will rout the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on December 7. APC will clear all the seats in the 16 councils and the 177 wards in the state.

“We will not behave like the opposition party who are fond of rigging. We are going into the polls and preparing for it as if we are in the opposition. And we will win the elections.”

Asserting that APC was not going to have anything to do with SIEC outside matters regarding the polls’ guidelines, he appealed to the electoral umpire not to favour his party.

He added, “Let the electorate favour us. We are confident that the good works our governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, is doing will make Ekiti to vote for us. This is why we are enjoining other parties to take part in the polls, so that we can prove to the world that APC is the only party here.

“Most of the candidates that have been fielded in our party are not moneybags; even the party itself has no money to buy votes. We won’t use money to buy votes. Our good works and performance will win the polls for us.

“Workers have been receiving their salaries regularly and we have been embarking on social development. So, people will vote us because they want development in their communities.”

First Lady of Lagos State, Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-olu (left); Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu; former Governor Bola Tinubu; his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; and Mr. Seyi Johnson during a Day of Tribute for the late Brig-gen. Mobolaji Johnson, first governor of Lagos, at old Onikan Stadium in Lagos…yesterday.