Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi (right), educating traders at Oja Egbe Odo, Ijesa-Isu, on the voting process ahead of the state’s June 21 governorship election, when she led the All Progressives Congress women on campaign to Ikole Local Government for the reelection of Governor Kayode Fayemi.
Ahead of the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, Wife of the Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, has advised the electorate against allowing politicians to brainwash them into selling their voters cards or disclosing their Voter Identification Number (VIN).
She gave the advice when she led the women wing of the All Progressives Congress on election campaign to Aiyekire, Ekiti East and Ikole Local Governments, at the weekend, to enhance the support base of Governor Kayode Fayemi. The governor is the APC candidate for the forthcoming poll.
Meanwhile, the only female governorship aspirant that scaled the Peoples Democratic Party’s screening hurdle and who was also a former State Women Leader of the party, Chief Modupe Ogundipe, has swelled the ranks of the new devotees of the APC.
She was in company with the APC women campaign train, which gave her the opportunity to tell the people why she believed that only Fayemi had the magic wand to take the state to the enviable position among the leading contenders.
Besides, it was bumper harvest for traders in select markets in the three LGs visited, as the First Lady also took the APC women campaign to markets where she bought commodities at prices far higher than what obtained before her arrival.
At each stop, the governor’s wife engaged in voters’ education, particularly on the voting pattern, early arrival at the polling unit, accreditation and proper handling of the voter’s card after thumb-printing to forestall voiding of their votes.
Addressing the tumultuous gathering of women at Ikole, the governor’s wife said that reports suggested that cloning of the voters’ card would be made easier for unscrupulous politicians when the VIN is known.
She appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission to be vigilant and ensure that only those in possession of valid voters’ cards were allowed to vote in the coming election.
Fayemi said, “We have reached a crucial stage in the build-up to the coming election when those desperately seeking power will be approaching you to sell your voters cards to them. Please, don’t listen to them. Guard your voters’ card jealously and use it to vote for Dr. Kayode Fayemi on June 21.
“They may also make surreptitious attempt to copy the VIN of your voters’ card. Don’t oblige them. Anybody who is confident that he has the backing of the people will not engage in any dubious means to win election.
“Let them sell their manifestoes and allow you to judge. But, you should be wary of politicians whose stock-in-trade is empty boasts and bogus promises. Dr. Kayode Fayemi has many achievements to flaunt to merit being re-elected.”
Also campaigning for the governor, Ogundipe said she and other defectors from the PDP were spurred into action by what she called the sterling achievements and rising profile of Fayemi.
The former PDP women leader said that the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the PDP hierarchy’s choice as the party’s governorship candidate for the election among the eleven of them that contested the primaries.
She said, “The achievement of Dr. Kayode Fayemi is enough reason for any right thinking Ekiti person to want to join the APC. What he has done in the last three and a half years is unsurpassed in the history of the state.
“We thought we could wrestle power from them (APC), but at the end of the day, my former party of yesterday misfired and they picked a candidate that is unacceptable to a right thinking Ekiti man.
“We want the good work of JKF (Fayemi) to continue in Ekiti State. The step I have taken is not about myself, but about my followers; it’s about our children and generations yet unborn.
“it is a fight to save Ekiti from globe-trotters; it is a fight to save Ekiti from hoodlums; it’s a fight to save Ekiti from those who are bereft of ideas; it is a fight to lift Ekiti to continue to progress.”
Other party chiefs who spoke at the rally included the State Women Leader of APC, Chief Funke Owoseni; APC Ekiti South and North Senatorial Women Leaders, Mrs. Mary Faje and Chief Kemi Olaleye respectively and Wife of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mrs. Chioma Omirin.
Last modified: November 24, 2021
