Exclusion Of Candidates Inimical To ‘Our Democracy’, Rep Bamidele Salam Warns…Cites 2025 PDP Convention, Ekiti APC Guber Primary 

Rep Bamidele Salam, who represents Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore federal constituency, Osun State in the House of Representatives, on Tuesday urged Nigerian politicians to shun exclusion of candidates ahead of elections because it is not only inimical to the nation’s democracy but also has the potential to stunt it.

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that the federal lawmaker, who is the Chairman, Committee on Public Accounts, gave the warning while commenting about the race for PDP Chairmanship in a Facebook post on Tuesday noting that exclusion of candidates will have deleterious effects on the nation’s democracy.

He submitted that it will be very wrong to prevent former governor Sule Lamido from participating in the Chairmanship election while also condemning the decision to stop Mr Kayode Ojo from taking part in the Ekiti State APC gubernatorial primary election.

Recall that Governor Biodun Oyebanji  has had a full grip of party structures in Ekiti State and he has masterfully cultivated network of loyalists across the state, despite facing a fierce opposition from the camp led by Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Henry Dele Alake.

Chief Kayode Ojo, who many still refer to as the real winner of the 2022 APC gubernatorial primary election, is Mr Dele Alake’s cousin.

He however lost the opportunity to participate in the 2026 guber primary election following the announcement made by the party through its  Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Hon Duro Meseko a few days ago.

The party submitted that only Governor Abiodun Oyebanji and Omolayo Oluremi were left to compete and seek gubernatorial nomination sequel to the decision to disqualify Kayode Ojo.

Also, the 2025 Elective National Convention of the PDP is scheduled to hold in Ibadan, Oyo State between November 15 and 16, 2025, and ahead of the National Convention, former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido , who has shown interest in becoming the National Chairman of the party,  was at the PDP national Secretariat , Abuja on Monday  to obtain the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms but left disappointed.

‘If it is true that Sule Lamido , an elder statesman, was denied opportunity to purchase a form to run for the position of National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, I condemn that act in the strongest terms possible.

Just like the reported disqualification of one Mr Kayode Ojo of the APC from running for Governor in Ekiti State, these acts show that we have learned almost nothing from the chequered history of our past political failures as a country.

Democracy suffers, almost irreparably when we promote unjust exclusion, manipulation of processes to a desired outcome, oppression of minorities and subversion of our own rules.

This is one reason why our politics and our governance continue to retrogress. Fixing the problem is our collective responsibility!

Shallom’ Rep Bamidele Salam submitted in the Facebook post- Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079,  08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you