Ekiti 2018: SDP picks Akinloye Ayegbusi as candidate

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Ekiti State on Friday announced Akinloye Ayegbusi as its flag bearer for the July 14 governorship election in the state.

He was chosen in an election conducted at the 177 wards across the state through Option A4 in a primary contested by three aspirants, after an other withdrew on Wednesday.

The final collation and declaration of results took place at MC Event Centre, Poly Road, Ado Ekiti. The result was announced on Friday.

Mr Ayegbusi, a banker by profession, polled 16,921 to defeat his closest rival, Dare Bejide, who polled 14,783.

Another aspirant, Olamide Oni, polled 4, 258 to finish third.

There were, however, allegations that the election was rigged in favour of the winner, but the party leadership has denied the allegation.

Tunde Adeniran, a professor and former chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, was specifically accused of compromising the election in favour of the winner of the poll.

A member of the National Working Committee of SDP, Yemi Akinbode, while reacting to the allegation, said the allegation was a fabrication.

He said that the former Minister of Education remained the symbol of a new political order and therefore could not be associated with rigging of any election.

One of the aspirants, Bisi Omoyeni, had boycotted the exercise, citing allegations of fraud and manipulations by party top hierarchy .

Mr Omoyeni, a former Group Managing Director of the Wema Bank PLC, and Deputy Governor to Ayodele Fayose during his first term in office, appealed to SDP national leadership to annul the election and order a rerun.

He alleged that the State Working Committee had deregistered his supporters in all the 16 local government areas.

Mr Omoyeni defected to the SDP from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in 2017, shortly after Mr Fayose adopted his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, as the sole candidate of the party.