The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Ekiti State Government of blocking its access to the Ekiti State Pavilion for the party's campaign grand finale, forcing it to hold the rally at its campaign office in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday. The ADC South-west Zonal Chair, Akinbowale Omole, alleged that despite the venue being empty, the party's application to use the facility was denied.
ADC's Allegations
Omole stated that the party had applied to use the state pavilion, which he described as the equivalent of Abuja's Eagle Square, for its final campaign rally. He noted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had held its rally there two days earlier. “For today’s rally, we applied to use a place that can be compared with Eagle Square in Abuja, which is where all political parties normally have their rallies. APC had theirs there two days ago,” Omole said. “The place is empty as we speak, but they refused to allow us to use the place. Even when we approached private property owners for their facilities, they went there to threaten the owners.”
Omole did not specify the response received on the initial campaign space application or the nature of the threats faced when approaching other facility owners. He described the political environment in Ekiti as hostile to the opposition over the past eight months. He said the crowd at the rally was only a representative sample, as the party had instructed supporters across the state to send only delegates due to the venue issue.
Government's Denial
The Ekiti State Government has denied the allegations. The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Values Orientation, Taiwo Olatunbosun, dismissed the claims as an “excuse for failure.” In a telephone conversation with PREMIUM TIMES, Olatunbosun said, “Nobody has blocked anybody from using any public facilities. They are just looking for excuses. They are accepting defeat even before the election.”
Olatunbosun argued that the ADC lacked the crowd to fill the pavilion, which he said requires at least 30,000 to 40,000 supporters. “They don’t have people on the ground. So a pavilion would take nothing less than 30,000 or 40,000 people. Where they have their rallies today, they are not up to 1,000. So what are we talking about? So it is not true. They are just being mischievous.”
When pressed on why the ADC's application was denied, Olatunbosun said that an application does not guarantee access. “Let me say this without being modest and without prejudice to their right to use any public utility. If they write, if you want to apply for my house or a hotel, it could have been booked. Not to even talk of public utility.”
