Six of the 16 candidates, contesting the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti, have signed a pact with the people of the state to usher in good and responsive governance if elected.
The candidates signed the pact on Sunday at a program organized by the Justice Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Mission, in partnership with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Ekiti Council of Elders.
The candidates include Mr. Biodun Oyebanji of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC); Chief Segun Oni, Social Democratic Party (SDP); Dr. Wole Oluyede of the African Democratic Congress (ADC); Mrs. Kemi Elebute-Halle of Action Democratic Party (ADP); Mr. Debo Ajayi of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Mr. Ben Agboola of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
The candidate of one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bisi Kolawole, and a few others was absent from the program.
In his remarks, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti, Most Revd. Felix Ajakaye urged the candidates to refrain from walking away after winning or losing the election.
Ajakaye advised the candidates to go into the race with love, rather than acrimony.
He said they should be ready to support whosoever emerges as the winner at the poll, “if truly they love Ekiti, as the culture of walking away after elections should stop”.
Commenting, the Chairman, Council of Obas in Ekiti, Oba Gabriel Adejuwon, urged whoever emerged a winner to extend the hands of fellowship to others and share ideas to move the state forward.
Also, Revd (Fr.), Emmanuel Akingbade, the Director, Justice Development, and Peace Initiative, said that the manifesto of whoever emerged as the governor should be printed out and pasted on the billboards across the state.
This, he said, would serve as a reminder.
According to him, a survey will also be carried out to score the new governor to enable people to always call his attention to areas that had not been touched in the course of running his administration.
Earlier, the State Chairman of NUJ, Mr. Rotimi Ojomoyela, said that the union decided to partner with others in organizing the event, as part of its social responsibilities to the society toward engendering good governance.
Ojomoyela urged politicians and their followers to pursue the election project with utmost fear of God and the spirit of peaceful co-existence.
He urged journalists assigned to cover the election to be mindful of their safety in the course of performing their duties and report events accurately without sensation or unverified information.
The chairman said that plans were in place to stop quacks from participating in the coverage of the election, warning fake journalists to steer clear of the state in order not to give real journalists a bad name.
