Barely 30 days to the conduct of party primaries ahead of the July 14 Ekiti governorship election, the number of interested persons in becoming the next state governor has risen, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
From the initial 47 interested persons to the present 63 persons, All Progressive Congress has the highest number of 41 persons, while the state ruling Peoples Democratic Party has 11 persons.
The Social Democratic Party, Accord Party, Alliance for Democracy, Independent Democrats, Young Party of Nigeria and Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party present the remaining number of persons.
Among the interested citizens are Rev.Tunde Afe, Pastor Taiwo Oladeji and the current Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church.
Political observers in the state, however, believe that the figure is expected to deplete by the time all the parties conclude their primaries because of the huge cost involved.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has fixed between April 15 and May 14 within which to conduct primaries in the state.
However, only PDP and APC have fixed the dates of their primaries for Saturday while the APC has fixed May 5, and the PDP has fixed the date of its primary to hold on May 8.
As of the time of filing these reports, only 17 persons out of the 41 of the aspirants in APC have obtained nomination forms from the party’s national secretariat, while only six of the PDP’s 11 persons obtained the form.
NAN
PUNCH
