The candidates of the two major political parties in the country for the Ekiti State gubernatorial election in June have emerged.
The two parties held their primaries this week, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) conducting theirs on Wednesday and Bisi Kolawole, a former state chairman of the opposition party emerging winner.
Mr Kolawole, who was supported by former Governor Ayodele Fayose, polled 671 votes to defeat his closest contender, a former Governor, Olusegun Oni, who got 330 votes.
A total of 17 aspirants took part in the event that had Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State as chairman of the party’s primary election committee.
A serving senator, Biodun Olujimi, had earlier faulted the exercise which held in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. She had pulled out of the race hinging her reason on alleged ‘compromise’ of the process in favour of Mr Fayose’s candidate.
The PDP candidate will battle Biodun Oyebanji, a former secretary to the state government (SSG), who has been declared winner of the All Progressive Congress (APC) primary conducted on Thursday in the state.
Mr Oyebanji scored 101,703 votes, trouncing his closest challenger Ojo Kayode who came second with 767 votes.
The result was announced by Mohammed Badaru, Jigawa state governor and chairman of the primary election committee.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had fixed June 18 as the day electorates in the Southwestern state will elect a leader who will pilot the affairs of the state for the next four years.
