• Another ex-deputy gov dumps PDP

Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti

Independent National Electoral Commission,  (INEC) in Ekiti State has released the  notice for the governorship poll in the state in accordance with Section 30 of the Electoral Act.

The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC), Prof. Abdul-Ganiyu Olayinka Raji, who released the election 90 days notice at the INEC headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday, said campaign by political parties would commence on April 15, 2018 while the governorship election would hold on July 14, 2018.

He urged the people, who are yet to collect their permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) to do so for the purpose of the governorship election.

Raji, at a press conference, said over 513,000 PVCs have been collected as at March 2018, while about 221 PVCs were yet to be collected in the state.

According to him, the figure of the PVCs, include the remaining ones after the last general election held in Ekiti state.

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He further said training of INEC staff has started for the election, including the ad-hoc staff, which included National Youth Service Corps members.

The INEC boss called on the political parties to submit the lists of their party agents on the stipulated date and warned that any political party that fail to do so would not have party agents for the election.

He said security agencies would continue to monitor those who flout the rules and regulations of the conduct of the election and warned that those who go against it would be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, another former Ekiti State deputy governor, Sikiru Lawal, yesterday dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) due to irreconcilable differences over the party’s forthcoming primary election.

His resignation came barely 48 hours after former deputy governor, Bisi Omoyeni, dumped the PDP in the state,

The former number two man and governorship aspirant, also resigned his position as a non-executive director in Odu’a Investment Company Limited, where he had been serving through the instrumentality of Governor Ayodele Fayose.

Lawal, who was the deputy to former governor Segun Oni, who ruled Ekiti between 2007 and October 15, 2010, in a letter dated April 3, 2018, and addressed to the PDP Chairman in Ward 9, Ado Ekiti, Mr. Tope Makanjuola, said his resignation takes effect from the date he communicated same to the party.