2K
Immediate past Governor of Ekiti State and Minister of Mines and Steel
Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has written national and state leadership
of the All Progressives Party (APC), elders of the party, prominent
citizens and traditional rulers in the state notifying them of his
intention to run for the July 14 governorship election in the state.
Dr Fayemi, in the letter which he personally signed also disclosed that
his public declaration for the gubernatorial contest would come up at a
rally in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday.
Some prominent names to which the letters were addressed include the
National Chairman of APC , Chief John Oyegun, National Leader of the
party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Interim National Chairman of the
party, Chief Bisi Akande, all traditional rulers in Ekiti State, his
colleagues in the Federal Executive Council (FEC); former and serving
governors elected on APC platform, as well as prominent sons and daughters
of Ekiti.
The Minister had on April 2 hinted on his plan to run for the party’s
ticket during the quarterly meeting of the Ekiti APC leaders at his Isan
Ekiti country home.
Ahead of the Saturday’s public declaration, the Minister had also
undertaken a tour of the 16 local government areas of the state, where he
held meetings with local government and ward executives as well as elders
of the party.
The tour which kicked off Monday, in Efon Local Government, ended in Oye
Local Government Thursday.
Fayemi in the letter said his decision to join the governorship race was
informed by the need to join other patriots to rescue the state from the
grip of the current insensitive and incompetent PDP-led administration,
that has plunged the state and its people into unimaginable misery and
poverty.
“My mission in public life which has always cantered on transforming the
material conditions of our people has always revolved around these three
imperatives – breaking the yoke of ignorance that keeps our people down;
liberating them from ill-health and other limitations that restrain them
from achieving their potentials; and breaking the stranglehold of poverty
which keeps people from living full creative lives.
“In practical and policy terms, this for me has always meant prioritizing
social investments in education, healthcare and other social interventions
that reduce the cost of living, while raising the quality of life.
“Public office is too serious to be left to charlatans and when men and
women of good conscience that are committed to the ideals of social
justice and the common good turn away from politics, we pave way for
unprincipled opportunists to take power.
“My convictions about how much more is possible in Ekiti stem not from any
sense of entitlement but from a sense of service, of obligation and from
my belief that posterity has positioned us for such a time as this.
“There is much that we have to repair and redress in Ekiti before we can
go forward.”, He added.
The Minister’s central message at the various meetings during the tour
dwelled on the need for all APC members to unite in order to successfully
confront and defeat the incumbent PDP government in the state, come July
14th.