All Progressives Congress (APC) has disqualified Kayode Ojo, the aspirant seeking to challenge the Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, for the party ticket ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election in the state.
Ojo was disqualified by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) barely two weeks after the APC screening committee for the governorship election in Ekiti granted him a provisional clearance, placing the final approval on the NWC.
While placing Ojo’s fate in the hands of the NWC, the screening committee cleared Oyebanji, who is seeking re-election, and Atinuke Omolayo to contest the APC governorship primary in the state.
The decision, taken at Thursday’s meeting of the APC National Working Committee, NWC, followed the report of the screening panel set up to vet aspirants for the race.
Ojo, a businessman and long-time political player in Ekiti, has often been at odds with the APC establishment, having previously challenged party structures in the state and even contested for governor in 2018 under the APC banner.
“This is more about party stability than technical screening issues,” one party source confided, suggesting that the national leadership wanted to avoid a repeat of past factional crises that had cost the APC dearly in Ekiti politics.
In a related development, the NWC also dissolved the APC State Executive Committee in Enugu, a dramatic step seen as paving the way for the much-anticipated defection of Governor Peter Mba from the Peoples Democratic Party PDP to the APC.
