The 2027 general elections is over two years away but political stakeholders in Oye/Ikole Federal Constituency are already staking claim to the Ekiti North Senatorial seat, citing marginalisation.
The stakeholders also asked the major political parties, especially the All Progressives (APC) to give their Ekiti North senatorial tickets to the Oye/Ikole Federal Constituency in the interest of fairness.
Ekiti Movement for Peace and Good Governance, a group at the forefront of pushing for the constituency to produce the next Ekiti North senator, said the “skewed structural imbalance and lopsidedness” in the representation in the Red Chamber must be corrected with the 2027 polls.
The group’s president, Chief Ibukun Adejoro and its secretary, Comrade Femi Olofinbiyi, at an interactive session with the newsmen, said the Ekiti North Federal Constituency 2 (Ido Osi/Moba/Ilejemeje) which has enjoyed better representations in the Senate in the past, still occupies the seat.
Demanding a zoning of the senatorial tickets of parties to the Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 (Oye/Ikole) for the 2027 contest, they said historical antecedents, facts and figures, showed that the constituency has been grossly marginalised.
Adejoro said while Ekiti North Federal Constituency 2 produced senators in six election cycles since 1999, Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 produced one senator in the last 25 years.
He revealed that Moba produced two senators, the late Olatunji Ajayi and James Kolawole (1999-2007); Ilejemeje produced one Senator in Duro Faseyi (2015-2019) while Ido Osi had occupied the seat three times through Olubunmi Adetunmbi (2011-2015 and 2019-2023) and still holds the seat through the incumbent Senator, Cyril Fasuyi (2023-date).
Adejoro said Senator Ayo Arise (2007-2011), who hails from Oye, is the only one senator produced by Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 in the period under consideration.
Recalling the senatorial representation that predated the Fourth Republic which began in 1999, Olofinbiyi stated that the late Senator Ayo Fasanmi, who hailed from Ilejemeje represented the Ekiti Oke Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly during the Second Republic which ran from 1979 to 1983.
Olofinbiyi explained that if Fasanmi’s tenure is added to the list of senators produced from Ekiti North, it means Ilejemeje had produced two senators while the federal constituency 2 had produced more senators in seven election cycles.
Speaking further, Adejoro said: “You will agree with me that it appears Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 has been marginalised over the years in the senatorial race and we want to believe that the candidates and the electorate from Oye/Ikole are not second class citizens and we want the political parties to take not of this ahead of 2027.
“We want to appeal to our political parties, especially the All Progressives Congress (APC), to consider zoning the Ekiti North senatorial ticket to Oye/Ikole which had only succeeded once compared to the six times the other federal constituency, Ido Osi/Moba/Ilejemeje had produced Senators to occupy the same seat.
“The Oye/Ikole Federal Constituency has eminent, distinguished and illustrious sons and daughters who can be nominated and voted for to occupy the seat. Many of them had contested for the party nominations especially in the APC but they were denied in very curious and inexplicable circumstances.
“Very competent and viable politicians that have pedigrees like Chief Olusegun Osinkolu from Ayede and Mr. Dipo Bamisaye from Ijesa Isu, among others vied for nomination but were denied victory in the primaries in very suspicious circumstances that leave sour taste in the mouth.
“The only Senator produced by Oye/Ikole, Ayo Arise, who won on the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but now a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) succeeded in attracting the biggest federal presence and the largest employer of labour, the Federal University, Oye Ekiti to the Senatorial District during his tenure.
“This is a clarion call to the main opposition party, the PDP and other political parties to consider choosing credible and competent candidates from Oye/Ikole for the Ekiti North Senatorial seat for the sake of equity, justice and fair play. We are making this advocacy in good time so that parties can be put on notice ahead of 2027.
“We are particularly throwing this challenge to the APC, that prides itself as the progressive party because since 1999, the progressives have not produced a Senator from Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1, that is Oye/Ikole Federal Constituency and 2027 offers the party an opportunity to do so for the first time.
He urged the political parties to put necessary machinery in motion to ensure the conduct of credible, transparent, free and and fair primaries that would produce candidates who have the interest of the Senatorial District at heart and represent the people well when voted into office.
Adejoro also commended Governor Biodun Oyebanji for what his administration has done so far in Ekiti North especially in the areas of road construction and rehabilitation, empowerment of citizens and siting of the Special Agriculture Processing Zone (SAPZ) in the Senatorial District.
Speaking further on why they are speaking out on the issue, he said, though open campaign for votes is yet to be in by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the interest groups are already positioning themselves through consultations, meetings, reaching out and alignments.
“Stakeholders in the Ekiti North Senatorial District are not exempted from the subterranean moves to position themselves and their preferred candidates for one of the Senatorial seats and the six House of Representatives seats in the Zone even when the present occupants of the seats had barely spent one and half years in office.
“The clamour to get the desired seats are in sync with the popular saying in politics that “twenty four hours is a long time in politics” as permutations, projections and mood change owing to various factors that come into play on determining who gets what in the political game”.
Like in other thirty six states of the Nigerian federation, Ekiti has three Senatorial Districts: Ekiti North, Ekiti Central and Ekiti South with the three zones presently represented by Senator Cyril Fasuyi, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and Senator Yemi Adaramodu respectively in the Tenth Senate.
The three Senatorial Districts are divided into two Federal Constituencies each to produce the six members of the House of Representatives from the Land of Honour.
The six Federal Constituencies are Oye/Ikole and Ido Osi/Moba/Ilejemeje (for Ekiti North), Ado/Irepodun Ifelodun and Ekiti West/Ijero/Efon (for Ekiti Central) and Ekiti Southwest/Ikere/Ise Orun (for Ekiti South).
For the purpose of emphasis, Ekiti North, the Senatorial District under focus, has two Federal Constituencies in Oye/Ikole otherwise known as Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1 and Ido Osi/Moba/Ilejemeje otherwise known as Ekiti North Federal Constituency 2.
