The Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for June 20, 2026 governorship election, Dr Wole Oluyede, has vowed to resist any attempt to stop him and the party from participating in the poll.
Oluyede, who faulted Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to add his name and the PDP in its recently released list of political parties governorship candidates, said such amount to an attempt to preclude him and his party from contesting the election.
The Australian-based medical doctor spoke in Ikere Ekiti country on Thursday while reacting to his exclusion from the list of 12 parties governorship candidates released by INEC earlier in the week.
He wondered why his name and that of his party was not included in the list by the electoral body whose officials monitored and okayed the November 8, 2025 Ekiti PDP governorship primary election where he emerged the party’s governorship candidate.
Addressing newsmen on the matter, Oluyede said “It has been drawn to my attention that, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released a list of political parties candidates, for the 2026 governorship election in Ekiti State and my name was excluded, as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.
“That came as a surprise to me , in the sense that the process that led to my emergence as a candidate of the PDP was witnessed by the INEC officials. They supervised the primary election and wrote reports to that effect. And in actual fact, there have been suits against the election in which they came to swear an affidavit that I was the candidate of the party.
“So, I am not aware of any reason that should preclude me from the election. As far as I know, there is no court injunction or orders that should preclude me from that list and I don’t think that INEC is in a position to determine who should be the nominee of a party. They have not been doing that before , so I don’t know why this is happening and I don’t think it is in the purview or duty of INEC to do that”.
Noting that he is aware of a political party that actually disenfranchises members of the party , he said, “that is sad, it is a tragedy. This is not going to be allowed to happen, I am not going to allow it, I will fight it with all that it requires”.
The PDP governorship candidate who disclosed that he still consulting on the step to take said, “My consultation will include even talking to INEC to ask questions, I am also consulting with the party structure and once I am advised on what to do, I will take action”
While urging his many supporters across the state to be calm he said, “I want to reassure you that I am going to be the next governor of the state which means I am going to be on the next ballot. I don’t want anybody to panic or get worried about this. I know that people would be playing games, I understand their games but it is a game of futility, it will not go anywhere”.
Oluyede advised those trying to preclude him and others from contesting election with them to have a rethink saying that is a bad game and it is not really the right thing to do.
He said, “Elections are meant to give the people an opportunity to choose a government. If anybody wants to contest , he or she should contest based on the people’s choices, not by precluding others from contesting against them.
“If you are sure you have performed well or you have done well for the people or you have the ability to win , then you should have a confidence to go into the election, it is not right to disenfranchise people who want to express their will, if you do that under any condition it is called witchcraft and it is not allowed, it shouldn’t be done. And Ekiti people should actually go against this because it has been going on for too long”.
Oluyede said that the PDP is the largest party in Ekiti and that issues of why they lost elections in the past have been removed from the party.
“Those responsible have been removed from our party whether by themselves or by natural selection of goodness. We are a solid party standing together and we are ready to win the June 20 governorship election in the state. I want to assure you that everybody should keep their peace, keep their confidence that we will win the next election.”
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