A chieftain of the African Democratic Party, ADC, in Ekiti, Dare Bejide has warned against underrating the party, saying the party will spring surprises in future elections including 2026 governorship poll in the state.
Bejide who was a former Ambassador to Canada, said the party is fast gaining grounds in the country;s political space with the leaders of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and others coming out to join and identify with the party.
The pioneer PDP secretary in the state who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of ADC, spoke yesterday in Ado Ekiti, while celebrating his 66th birthday with his political allies, friends , loyalists and party members.
He said, “We have an influx of people joining the party everyday. From the All Progressives Congress (APC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties, just wait and see. As far as am concerned, when I win the ticket and the mandate of the party,.
“For instance, I was the pioneer secretary of the PDP in the state and the party presently has been hijacked by the ‘bad boys’ , so nobody want to wrestle with the ‘pig’, that was why we left. In APC too, democracy has taken a flight and so everybody wants to be at the place where democracy can flourish. And in ADC, we are going to conduct a transparent primary and I know other parties can’t do it because they will impose candidate on their people. Those that are aggrieved will come and we are talking to them”.
On what should be done to guard against internal wrangling in the party as a result of ambition of members, he said, “Ambition in a way can split a party if there is no process. For instance, when a political party believes in imposition of candidates, then whoever is aggrieved would not be very happy. But once, there is a transparent process, both the winner and the loser will embrace each other. Because it is like they have fought a very good battle as winner and as loser. Must I am sure most parties don’t behave that way and that is what is going to split them”.
Speaking on his plans for the state if elected government, he said his administration would pay attention to youths and women.
“We have a larger population of women and the youth, so, if a government does not reckon with them, it shows that the government is not in touch with the reality of the situation on ground. If elected, I would pay more attention to their development, provide an enabling environment for them to flourish. For the youths, I would make farming more attractive to them. It will no longer be a manual thing but mechanized agriculture. We also also establish skill acquisition centres in all the three Senatorial districts of the state and ensure that our artisans are retrained at no cost. The mechanics, vulcanizers bricklayers and others .
“There would be lots of appointments for women in our cabinet, even far more that 34 percent affirmative action and improve on the state infrastructure by addressing the deplorable state of roads in the state”.
Also speaking, a stalwart of the party, Chief Segun Akinwumi stated that the ADC in the state is working out modalities to ensure they come out victorious in the 2026 governorship poll in the state.
“The first thing we are doing is to get the credible platform which we have gotten now, that is ADC. Followed by credible candidate. Ekiti people are disenchanted with the present government. As things are now, in another two months’ time everyone will know that ADC is out for real thing. Ambassador Bejide that we are trying to bring up now has all that it takes to be governor of this state”.
