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.
