Ekiti 2022: Ex-Gov Segun Oni Dumps PDP

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Engineer Segun Oni, has dumped the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Naija News reports that Oni was first-runner up in the just-concluded governorship primaries of the PDP held in the Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

The former governor lost the primaries to Ayodele Fayose’s anointed aspirant, Bisi Kolawole, who emerged as the party gubernatorial candidate.

This new platform earlier reported that the ex-Governor may join the All Progressives Grand Alliance (AGPA) to contest the governorship poll.

Oni had claimed that the just concluded PDP gubernatorial primary was manipulated to favour Kolawole.

Confirming the news, spokesman of Segun Oni Movement, Adebayo Jackson, said the former governor has withdrawn his membership of the PDP.

Jackson, however, failed to reveal the party his principal will be joining ahead of the June 18 governorship election.

He said “Engr. Segun Oni has finally resigned from PDP. All the people of Ekiti have decided that they want Segun Oni on any platform. And he had harkened to the calls. In fact, it was the image of Oni that has been promoting the image of PDP in Ekiti State. And once the PDP has decided to kill itself we have to take a bow and leave.

“Ekiti people will not leave Oni alone to go like that because they can’t see any other person that can deliver what Oni has been doing for them.

“So, it is the voice of the people and not the voice of anybody. As it is now, both PDP and APC will be contesting against the people of Ekiti. And the symbol of the people of Ekiti State is Engr. Oni.” 

Also speaking, former Director of Segun Oni Campaign Organization, Hon. Lanre Ogunsuyi said Oni’s exit was informed by a high degree of injustice melted to his principal by some powerful forces in the party during the January 26, primary election.

He said: “We have just said bye-bye to PDP and oga thanked all the people that worked with him and dissolved all the structures that ran the purported primary in PDP. What we have now is a confluence of people called the Segun Oni Movement. By next week, we should have sorted ourselves out in line with the INEC timetable.

“It is normal to speculate about politicians especially a politician of Oni’s stature. He is a former governor and he has just left PDP. What is certain is that we have left PDP but we are not certain about where we are going.”

On why Oni left PDP, he said, “Because PDP is a cult. Oni has been consistent in the search for truth. Truth in Nigerian politics means you will be persecuted and all that and that is all that has been happening. When you are consistently in the search of truth, fair play, those things have no value in Nigerian politics.”