By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has disqualified prominent governorship aspirant, Engr. Kayode Ojo, from its forthcoming primary election in Ekiti State, in a move party insiders say reshapes the contest in favour of the incumbent governor, Abiodun Oyebanji.
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’s disqualification comes just weeks after another aspirant, Olajumoke Olawuni, was dropped from the contest.
With the field now drastically narrowed, only Governor Oyebanji and Omolayo Oluremi have been cleared to participate in the primary.
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.