Indications emerged yesterday the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti state will be unveiled Wednesday.
Multiple sources in a meeting held by the PDP Presidential Consensus Committee, led by Chief Olabode George, with the governorship aspirants in Abuja on Saturday night, disclosed that the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, would announce the party’s choice as consensus “candidate among the 14 aspirants within 48 hours”.
Other chieftains of the party in attendance included PDP National Secretary, Prof Wale Oladipo, Dr Jide Adeniji, Dr Doyin Okupe, Prof Tunde Adeniran, Chief Abiodun Olujimi, Chief CK Awoyelu, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, among others.
According to the sources, the Chief of Staff to the President, Brig Gen Oladehinde Arogbofa (rtd), who represented the Presidency at the meeting, explained President Goodluck Jonathan’s insistence on consensus for the selection of the party’s flag bearer, which was corroborated by other security reports, was targeted at reducing crisis in the party to ensure it was well-positioned to win the election.
The president’s aide was said to have told the aspirants to forget about primary, explaining that there was no way primary would not create crisis capable of adversely affecting the fortunes of the party at the poll.
Consequently, the 13 aspirants present at that point in time, agreed with the consensus arrangement and signed an undertaking that they would support the eventual candidate and work towards the success of the party in the election.
The 14th aspirant, according to the sources, arrived the venue at about 12.03am on Sunday morning when the grace to end the meeting which began at about 8pm on Saturday was being said.
