Adebayo Adenrele
The Senate Majority Leader and Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, has donated a whopping sum of N16.4m to Candidates contesting under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming local government election in Ekiti.
The Senator presented the cheques to the candidates on Thursday at an event in Ado Ekiti, as part of his support for the party and its success ahead of the election.
Bamidele, represented by his senior legislative aide, Gbenga Banji, described the good performance of Governor Biodun Oyebanji and his popularity among Ekiti masses as APC’s masterstroke in the coming election.
The beneficiaries are 35 chairmanship contestants and candidates for 177 councilorship seats in the election slated for December 2, 2023 across his Senatorial District in Ekiti Central.
According to the breakdown, each candidate of the 15 LGA and LCDA chairmanship candidates N500,000, their vice chairmanship candidates were awarded with N150,000 each, 57 councilorship candidates received N100,000 each, 5 APC local government chairmen earned N50,000 each, while all the 7 senatorial executives were presented with N150,000.
Bamidele appealed to the ruling APC to use the election for further consolidation of its stronghold on Ekiti and sustain its current mass appeal at the grassroots.
The local government, which brings the dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots should be in possession of the ruling party to ensure fair sharing.
He however appealed to party leadership not to underrate the opposition in the election, but urged them to mobilise and use the right strategies to win all the seats.
His words: “The coming local government polls have become a fait accompli for our party, APC.
“This is a local election, political parties may not count, but candidates will count. So don’t underrate any political party or their candidates.
“Go out and mobilise aggressively for our party and victory shall be certain on Saturday.
“This election will also serve as a barometer, not only to gauge our current acceptability, but to project to the future.
“We will also use it to amend areas where we are weak and consolidate further on areas of strength.”
