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The state congress of the All Progressives Congress(APC) Ekiti State held on Saturday, with all party officials emerging through a consensus process.
However, South West Agenda 2023,(SWAGA), a pro-Tinubu group led by Dayo Adeyeye, boycotted the congress.
Both Mr Adeyeye and Tony Adeniyi, the two prominent leaders of the movement were absent at the venue of the congress.
The group had earlier dragged the party to court after it was disatisfied with the conduct of the July 31 ward congress in Ekiti State.
The suit was brought against the party by 36 members of the group calling for outright annulment of the election.
They had earlier critisised the holding of the congress and the consensus arrangement supported by the state Governor.
However, the venue of the congress, Ekiti Parapo Pavilion and roads leading to it were heavily packed with security personnel comprising the police and State Security Service(SSS).
The new Iyin dual carriage way that passed through the venue, was also cordoned off by security men, to prevent any possible external infiltration.
Those entering the venue were thoroughly scrutinised and frisked, and the process was peaceful.
The candidates for the state executive were called and elected through voice votes.
The congress was supervised by a six-member National Congress Committee, chaired by Yusuf Galambi.
The leaders who emerged are Paul Omotoso, who was returned as State Chairman and Sola Elesin who was also retained as Deputy Chairman.
The others are Segun Dipe(Publicity Secretary) , Asinkun Sunday(Youth Leader), Mary Afuye (Women Leader), Wale Adeyeye(Legal Adviser ), Isaac Fayiba( Organising Secretary), Omotayo Kolawole (Welfare Officer), Odekunle Raphael Bankole(Vice Chairman Central), and Biodun Fatile (Treasurer).
The list also include: Akindele Akinbobola( Vice Chairman , South) and Ayo Kolawole(Vice Chairman North).
Governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi, described the process as peaceful and lauded the conduct of the party members.
While hoping they his successor would be an APC member in the coming election, Mr Fayemi said the task would be the greatest collective achievement of the party.
He urged the Omotoso-led state executive to work hard and unify the party ahead of the 2022 governorship poll slated for June 18.
“In this congress, all the available positions were resolved consensually and this brought about this peace. That is what we are in Ekiti APC. We are about peace,unity and unanimity of purpose. I am happy that this goes without any disturbance,” he said.
“I appreciate the State and National congress committees for doing a good job.
“The elected executive has a lot of Work to do. The INEC has announced the date of our governorship election. Our prayers, determination and commitment should be that the next governor of this state will come from APC.
“What we need to do is to work with our executives, so that we can provide all interested parties a level playing grounds. Our prayer is that the primary will be peaceful and violent- free, just like we have witnessed today.”
Mr Omotoso, in his acceptance speech, expressed the confidence that the next governor would emerge from APC.
The Chairman added that he felt highly honoured to have been returned into his position, expressing profound gratitude to Mr Fayemi and all the delegates for reposing confidence in him.
“We are given this mandate to serve our party . We are not going to let you down. We will do our best and ensure we don’t disappoint We know that we have enormity of task ahead of us . We will lead the party with utmost transparency, , commitment, dedication and unity to take the party to the next level,” he assured.
“In 2019, APC contested elections and won all the seats. This time, we are prepared to win the next governorship election. We know the extent of confidence you reposed in us, we will not betray the confidence.
“We will strive hard to pursue unification process and bring all our party members together as one big family.”