*Governor: I’ll defeat all of them in 2018 No fewer than 36 chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State are in the race for the party’s ticket for the 2018 governorship election. The large number of aspirants, our reporter learnt, is already a source of worry for leaders of the party at the state and national level. Though some of the aspirants have not officially declared their interest, our correspondent gathered that a majority of them are intensifying their efforts in wooing party leaders both in the state and the centre to clinch the APC ticket and possibly succeed the incumbent, Ayodele Fayose, whose second term as governor elapses in October next year. Among those jostling for the APC ticket include the immediate past governor of the state and current Minister of Solid Minerals and Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; another former governor of the state and current APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Engr. Segun Oni; two former senators – Femi Ojudu now Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters) and Gbenga Aluko, as well as former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Olufemi Bamisile. Others are former House of Representatives members, Bimbo Daramola, Opeyemi Bamidele and Bamidele Faparusi; former Chairman of Ekiti State Hospitals Management Board, Dr. Adebayo Orire; 2007 governorship candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Otunba Yinka Akerele; former Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. Femi Thomas; former Chief of Staff to ex-Governor Fayemi, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu; former House of Assembly Majority Leader, Hon. Funminiyi Afuye; Australia-based medical practitioner, Dr. Wole Oluyede and former House of Assembly member, Hon. Bayo Idowu. The list also has former commissioners, Chief Sesan Fatoba, Chief Bisi Aloba and Chief Dele Okeya; former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Bodunde Adeyanju; former Ekiti South senatorial aspirant, Mr. Kayode Adaramodu; an industrialist, Mr. Olajide Akinyemi Jnr; a retired officer of the United States Army, Captain Sunday Adebomi; former Special Assistant on Forestry, Mr. Bayo Babalotin; son of former governor of old Ondo State, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua and Mr. Oladipupo Ogunkoyode. While more aspirants are expected to join the race ahead of the primaries, there is apprehension among the APC leadership over the growing list of aspirants, and most especially the profile of the individuals involved. Some members of the party in the state, who spoke with New Telegraph, said while it is their wish that the aspirants will close ranks and come up with a consensus candidate, who will match whoever the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state will present for the poll, they are afraid that such arrangement is unlikely to work out given the personalities in the race for the APC ticket. Some say that it would have been easy for the APC to harmonise and arrive at a consensus candidate, if the agitation for the gover-norship ticket to be zoned to Ekiti South, had been heeded to. Of the three senatorial zones in the state – North, Central, South, only the South has not produced a governor, but as it stands, it seems that zoning is not in the card of the party as aspirants hail from the three zones. This is as none of the heavyweights touted so far to contest on the platform of the APC is from the South senatorial zone. Fayose, who reacted to the growing list of APC governorship aspirants through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the PDP is not bothered as the APC lacks presence in the state. His words: “The question is: Is APC still in Ekiti State? The answer is no. They can have 1,000 aspirants, but we are not bothered because the party does not exist here, though it is public knowledge that one of the aspirants already has the ticket in his pocket. “In 2014, the PDP defeated an incumbent governor, who worked with two former governors. We will do that again in 2018 in a free and fair contest.”]]>