Nigeria's ruling party, the People's Democratic Party(PDP) is set to win the upcoming Ekiti State re-run election on saturday, 25th April 2009.
Reports from chidi opara reports' network members in the state indicate a slim victory for the PDP candidate, Mr. Segun Oni against the main opposition candidate, Mr. Kayode Fayemi of the Action Congress party(AC).
The Court of Appeal recently nullified the election of Mr. Oni and ordered a re-run, following a case brought to the court by Mr. Fayemi. The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC)consequently scheduled a re-run election in ten local government areas of the state for April 25th, 2009. The Court of Appeal is the final arbiter in governorship election matters in Nigeria.
Our information has it that although the AC which have seasoned grassroots politicians like Bisi Akande and Bola Tinubu in its fold appear to be more popular than PDP at the grassroots, the PDP however, have more financial resources at its command, a more potent factor in electoral victory in Nigeria.
Our investigation also revealed that the ousted governor, sensing that the case may result in nullification of his election and consequently, a re-run, had hurriedly scheduled the local government election which the AC boycotted. This boycott afforded PDP the opportunity of sweeping all but one of the local government areas. These local government area chairmen are presently deploying financial resources to ensure victory for PDP.
We also discovered that the acting governor, a PDP member is deploying state financial resources to the advantage of his party. At the time of preparing this report, members of the State Executive Council, have been given unspecified amounts of money to go and ensure victory for the ruling party in their areas. We have however, not been able to confirm the actual amounts.
Although the atmosphere in the state is tense, security contacts in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, however, assured chidi opara reports that the re-run election will not pose serious security challenges.
