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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has said it will appeal the judgement delivered on Tuesday by a Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, which nullified the outcome of the 8 November 2025 governorship primary election of the party, where Dr Wole Oluyede had emerged the PDP candidate, and ordered a fresh governorship primary exercise in the state.
A chieftain of the PDP in the state, Hon. Deji Ogunsakin, disclosed this to newsmen at a press conference held at the party’s secretariat in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, while reacting to the judgment of the court.
Ogunsakin also appealed to party members, supporters and the people of the state to remain calm, assuring them that the national leadership of the party was on top of the situation.
“We want to assure all the members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti and the general public that there is no cause for alarm. Your favourite candidate, Dr Wole Oluyede, will be on the ballot and, by the special grace of God, we are winning the 2026 election.
“We are not unaware of the plan to turn Ekiti State into a one-party state. Several moves have been made and this is just one of them, to shut out PDP from participating in the 20 June 2026 election.
“INEC has come out to say that the exclusion of the PDP from the candidates’ list is not their doing. They have said to the public that they supervised and witnessed the PDP governorship primary election and even wrote in their report, which showed that, truly, Dr Wole Oluyede won the primary of the party fair and square.
“They are trying to play games with the outcome of that election because they know that INEC is not likely to supervise or monitor any other election for PDP right now with the situation we are in. So, what happens if INEC decides not to monitor any primary again? It means that they do not want the PDP to have any candidate in the forthcoming election. That is their plan, no other thing, because, at the end of the day, the APC is going to be the beneficiary of this.
“And we are not unaware that certain elements are working with the APC to destroy the PDP, and we have told them severally that the PDP cannot be destroyed. It is a strong platform that has been in existence even before the arrival of the current players who are ready to cause confusion in the party.”
Speaking further, he appreciated the national leadership of the party, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), and the Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, for their support and unwavering commitment to the PDP in the state.
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“We appreciate the national leadership of the party, especially our national chairman, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN), who has done everything possible to stabilise our party in Ekiti State. He has done tremendously well.
“Also, the leader of our party in the Southwest and governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, has done well too to ensure that all is well with our party in Ekiti State. They have done their best, but individuals who are hell-bent on causing confusion will still want to go ahead with their plans.
“We want to assure our people that the judgment will be appealed and we are sure that common sense will prevail because the PDP leadership did everything right.
“For somebody to say that they are not satisfied with the outcome of that primary was shocking to a lot of us because, in a long time, that was the most peaceful, free and fair primary ever conducted, at least in the last three primaries in Ekiti State.
“This is a temporary setback; we will overcome it for the sake of the people, for the sake of the masses, for the sake of those who are tired of the current arrangement in the state, who are tired of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government. PDP will contest that election and we are going to win. They know this and that is why they are working with certain elements within us to cause confusion. But that won’t last because our election was conducted according to the rules. We followed due process. We did everything we were supposed to do, required of us as a party to produce a candidate. We have produced a candidate.
“Before the judgement, we had a fair idea of what was going to happen because of the couple of things that we heard. We knew that the judgement would go the way it went. We are appealing the judgement and common sense will prevail. We want to assure our party members and the people of Ekiti State and our people in the diaspora to stay strong. It is a challenging moment. The situation is under control and we will overcome.”
Dr Wole Oluyede had emerged the winner of the PDP gubernatorial primary election conducted on 8 November 2025 by the Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo-led electoral committee in the state.
Oluyede emerged the winner after securing 279 votes, defeating Funso Ayeni, who got 239 votes, and a woman contestant, Funmi Ogun, who scored 17 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Funso Ayeni approached the court to challenge Oluyede’s victory.
Delivering his judgement on Tuesday, the presiding judge, Justice Babs Kuewumi, nullified the outcome of the 8 November 2025 governorship primary election of the PDP and ordered that a fresh governorship primary poll be conducted in the state.
