About 29 aspirants, including a former aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, have so far indicated their interest to contest the 2014 Ekiti governorship election under the platform of PDP.
The contenders signified their interest, barely one week after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja fixed June 2014 as the election date.
Bodunde Adeyanju, a former Personal Assistant to Obasanjo, said that he joined the race because he felt was the best for the job.
The other aspirants are former Gov. Ayo Fayose, the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade and former Managing Director of Wema Bank, Bisi Omoyeni.
Others include Abiodun Aluko, a former Deputy Governor, and Tunji Odeyemi, a former Speaker of the state Assembly, among others.
Odeyemi, who was the state’s Acting-Governor when the Court of Appeal invalidated the election of former Gov. Segun Oni, said that the people appealed to him to contest the election.
He said that he was well-equipped to win the governorship election if allowed to fly the party’s flag.
N10 million fees on the nomination form and the N3 million expression of interest cost, imposed by the PDP on its gubernatorial aspirants in Ekiti, never deterred the aspirants, whose number swells by the day.
Reliable sources in the state PDP Secretariat told newsmen that the primaries for the June governorship election would be conducted before the end of March.