Action Democratic Party (ADP) governorship candidate in last month’s gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, Segun Adewale, says he has no plan to quit the party and join All Progressives Congress (APC), disclosing that he was at the moment working with the ADP leadership towards reorganizing the party’s structures with a formidable and focused team that would not compromise when faced with pressure, come 2019.
Adewale sated this on Wednesday in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos, in reaction to his rumored defection to APC, even as he restated his commitment to his party, declaring that his conscience was not for sale.
He said there was no truth in the allegation that he was paid by the winner of last Ekiti governorship poll, Kayode Fayemi, to collapse ADP’s structure into the APC in the state, describing such insinuation as a dubious political tactics deployed by some desperate politicians to misinform the public and malign his character.
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“For the avoidance of doubt, I have not defected from the ADP and I am not in any alliance with the APC, not now, before or during the election.
“As a strong contender in the election, I was wooed by the APC and PDP but I refused all offers to betray the people’s trust. I never collected a penny from any political party or individual to sway the election results.
“I am at the moment working with the leadership of our party towards reorganizing our structures. It is important to situate credible members at critical positions to prevent a re occurrence of our experience at the poll. We hope to go into the 2019 general election with a formidable and focused team that will not compromise when faced with pressure,” he said.
Adewale, while saying that the Ekiti election might have become history, however, insisted it was important he put on record happenings that led to his party’s poor outing.
The ADP standard-bearer, who appreciated the people for their massive support before, during and after the election, expressed displeasure that some key personalities within the party defected into the APC few days to the election, due to conspiracy.
Besides, he said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) played an unsavory role as it did not issue tags to ADP agents until 1pm on election-day, adding that he tactically withdrew from the race when it became obvious that the APC had hijacked the entire process with monetary inducement.
“INEC did not issue agent tags to the ADP until 1pm on election day. Despite the delay, 10% of what is due to us was issued. It does seem our agents tags were deliberately issued to some other persons to impersonate our party at the polling units and collation centers. Our party were denied access to 75% of the polling centers,” he said.
“INEC did not issue agent tags to the ADP until 1pm on election day. Despite the delay, 10% of what is due to us was issued. It does seem our agents tags were deliberately issued to some other persons to impersonate our party at the polling units and collation centers. Our party were denied access to 75% of the polling centers.
“It was practically impossible to match Federal financial might and authority deployed by the APC in the state,” Adewale said.
The party chieftain, who said he was more concerned about leveraging on the lessons from the election to ensure the success of the party in future, urged ADP members in the state to remain firm, steadfast and resolute, assuring them of better days ahead.
