Former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Femi Bamisile, on Tuesday picked the All Progressives Congress Declaration of Interest and Nomination Form to contest for the state’s governorship election.
Speaking to newsmen at the party secretariat after picking the form, the former lawmaker said he is on a restoration mission to give the people of Ekiti State the much desired dividend of democracy that has eluded them since Governor Ayo Fayose took over the mantle of leadership.
Bamisile said he was on a mission to get ride of Fayose based on the expectation of many Nigerians, assuring that he will make the development of the Igbimo local rice and the empowerment of the youths as his priority.
He said: “I am here to pick my declaration of Interest and Nomination form to govern the state.
“Let me start by thanking the President for what he did declaring interest to contest the presidential election in 2019.
“It could not have been coincidental that my humble self is having a rally for the President a day after his declaration.
“I want to appreciate him for what he has done and I am equally appreciating him for taking the bull by the horn.
“What it means is that APC has a good candidate for the election and we are looking at other parties showcasing what they have.
“As we all know, Ekiti has been considered a turbulent state in the past three to four years now because we have the person of the serving governor taking over the helm of affairs.
“But we are looking at the development in the state and the people of the state and we are ready to take over the affairs in 2018.
“I am sure that considering what we have put in into the party, the sensitization we have done in the minds of the electorates and others which will basically start during the primary election, I am certain that we have done well to show that we are going to get this ticket.
“Most importantly, we are going to kick out the monster which everybody within the state believes comes from Ekiti State.
“Let me not bore you with our agenda, but for emphasis, I want to highlight the ones that are of important the people of Ekiti.
“The two most important ones are security within the state and most importantly empowerment of our youths.
“We will deal with all these mess through agriculture.
“Ekiti is an agrarian state and can easily queue behind the agriculture programme of Mr. President to be able to use that to develop our state.
“Most importantly, we are going to take care of the dwindling economy in our state.
“However, my concern now is to ensure that I win the primaries for our party and be able to move our party forward after the governorship elections.
“Many people they are not from Ekiti State and the media followers conversant with the mumble jumble Fayose throws at the people, might think that it is impossible to unseat him, but he has lost out in everything with the present government.
“He has mixed politics with governance.
“We play politics, you get to the office but once in office, it is governance.
“It is about the people, it is about growth and upliftment of the people of the state that have eluded them.
“We will partner with some states to improve the lives of our people.
“Don’t forget that we have Igbimo local rice, which has better ingredients and protein than other species of rice.
“We have not developed that because the governor was busy building bridges.
“There is nothing wrong in building bridges, but the dwindling economy we have now does not allow for that.
“There has not been any development in Ekiti State.”