ADC and Ekiti Government Clash Over Campaign Venue

The opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) claims that the Ekiti State Government blocked it from using the Ekiti State Pavilion for its final campaign rally.

ADC South-west Zonal Chair Akinbowale Omole said the party's last rally was set for the Pavilion. Instead, they held it at their campaign office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on Thursday.

Mr Omole stated that the party had asked to use the government facility, which they say is similar to Abuja's Eagle Square, for their campaign finale. He said they were denied access even though the venue was empty.

The ADC mentioned that they tried to find other private venues but faced threats from the government.

"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," Mr 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."

Mr Omole did not share what response they received about their initial application or the threats they faced when seeking other venues.

‘Hostile Political Environment’

The zonal chair said that in the past eight months, the political climate has been tough for the opposition.

He added that the crowd at the rally does not reflect all their supporters.

"The crowd here is just a representative," he said.

Mr Omole pointed out that because of this situation, the party had told its supporters across the state to send only representatives to the rally.

Ekiti Government Responds

The state government has denied these allegations.

In a phone call with PREMIUM TIMES, the state’s commissioner for Information, Culture and Values Orientation, Taiwo Olatunbosun, called the accusation an "excuse for failure."

"Nobody has blocked anybody from using any public facilities," Mr Olatunbosun said. "They are just looking for excuses. They are accepting defeat even before the election."

He also commented that the ADC's campaign did not attract a large crowd and that the Pavilion needs at least 30,000 supporters.

"They don’t have people on the ground. So a pavilion would take nothing less than 30,000 or 40,000 people," he said.

"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 asked why the ADC's request to use the venue was turned down, he explained 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," Mr Olatunbosun said. "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."