Ado-Ekiti — The Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected allegations that its House of Representatives primary elections produced a non-indigene candidate.
In a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Segun Dipe, clarified that the reports circulating on social media and other platforms were inaccurate and capable of stirring ethnic distrust.
He warned that such claims were misleading and could unnecessarily heighten tension within the state.
Dipe maintained that no aspirant of non-Ekiti origin participated in, or won, any of the party’s primary elections across the six federal constituencies in the state.
He further explained that all candidates who secured the party’s tickets for the 2027 general elections are natives of Ekiti and are resident in their respective constituencies.
According to him, the APC in Ekiti did not present or endorse any candidate named Zaccheus Okoro, contrary to what some reports had suggested.
He added that the party’s political process in the state has always been driven by competence and development-focused considerations rather than ethnic sentiment.
The party urged members of the public to ignore the reports, insisting they were deliberately designed to discredit the outcome of its primaries.
In a related development, the campaign team of the APC candidate for Ise/Orun, Ikere, and Ekiti South-West Federal Constituency I, Mr. Toyin Okoro, also dismissed insinuations about his identity.
The team described the claims as a politically motivated attempt to use ethnic narratives to undermine his candidacy, insisting that he is an indigene of Ise-Ekiti in Ise/Orun Local Government Area of the state.