All APC Aspirants Will Face Primaries In Ekiti, Says Senate Leader

Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has said he and other aspirants contesting various positions in the All Progressives Congress (APC) will go through primaries despite being adopted as Ekiti Central Senatorial consensus candidate for the 2027 National Assembly election.

The federal lawmaker who is representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly also admonished APC members in Ekiti State to remain steadfast, committed to the unity of the party as well as effective internal management of disagreement to prevent any form of implosion within the APC.

Bamidele, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti after a meeting with critical stakeholders of the party in Ekiti Central Senatorial District, explained that all aspirants would participate in the process, regardless of whether they emerge through consensus or direct primaries.

“The electoral law has prescribed two modes of primaries. Everybody will face primaries, including myself.

“The only thing is that there are two modes of primaries. One is through consensus, the other one is through direct primaries. Even those of us that would emerge through consensus, we still have to go through the primaries, because I would still need people in all the 57 wards of Ekiti Central Central District to vote for me by affirmation.

“You still have to go there, be ready to conduct elections, until it’s obvious that there is no other person who is contesting. And then you still have to pull the question, to be sure that there is no one who is opposed to that consensus.

If you have one person, just one person, being opposed to it, you still have to go through it. You still have to go through direct primaries.

“So, everyone will participate, but the point is, those who don’t have a consensus endorsement will have to participate in the direct primaries only. And for those who, for whatever reason, may not appear victorious at the end of the primary election, my advice always is that they would not see themselves as failures.

“Because if you have a position and you have more than one person who is aspiring to occupy that position, then definitely only one person will get in there. So the other people should just not see themselves as having failed,” he said.

Harping on how he emerged as the consensus Senatorial candidate for the district, he said, “The APC leaders in Ekiti Central had come together, discussed and felt that in recognition of my little contribution to the development of our senatorial district, our state, and our country, all of them agreed that no one will run against me in the next election.

“This was way back in December 2025. They were not under any influence, it was not about lists from presidents or lists from anywhere, it was their own decision. And I was touched. I do not take your support for granted. It means everything to me, and I know by the grace of God you will not regret that at any point.”

Apparently making allusion to the seeming disagreement over who picks the two House of Representatives tickets in the district, Bamidele said, “Of course, people have talked about the House of Representatives and all the other elections. What we want is that we do all we can to ensure that there is peace, there is harmony. I appeal ahead of time to even other aspirants who may not have the benefit of the united support that I’m having. My appeal to them is: keep the faith and keep at it.”