By Kehinde Adewole
Since former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, returned to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) recently, the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led APC state government, seems to have been in shambles in Ekiti.
Like a once proud family suddenly bereaved of one of its dearest, some members of the APC, who are loyal to Fayemi, have begun a media war replete with grave allegations against Segun Oni.
But the action of Oni has been explained as a response to his supporters being allegedly treated like orphans by the APC party and government of Fayemi.
The stalwarts of Fayemi and APC have written countless press releases, granted several newspaper interviews to rubbish ex-governor Oni in order to paint him in bad light before the world and Ekiti people in particular. One wonders why Oni’s dumping of APC has elicited such vengeful attacks.
Probably, Oni’s loaylists’ claim that he remains a very formidable force to reckon with in Ekiti politics, is the answer to such puzzle: Time will tell.
Loyalists to Oni among who is Ife Arowosoge, Director General of Atunse Ekiti, a wave-making pro-Oni political movement comprising teeming supporters of the ex-governor, said in an interview that Oni’s intimidating records as Governor of the homogenous state between July 2007-October 2010 have been unparalleled. They added that Oni’s return to the PDP was long awaited and was inevitable, claiming that even the APC admitted that this was expected.
The political rift between Oni and Fayemi began in 2007 when Fayemi as candidate of Alliance for Democracy (A.D) was defeated by Segun Oni of the PDP in the gubernatorial poll of that year. A.D later joined some other political parties to form the current APC.
In a battle of election re-runs and legal wars, Fayemi toppled Oni’s progressive government with a Court of Appeal’s ruling that has been alleged to be controversial. The ruling was presided over by the Court’s former President, Justice Ayo Salami, who later got whipped by inglorious removal by the regulatory body of the Nigerian judiciary for his unprofessional role on a saga bothering on misconduct that has since then been popularly tagged ‘Salamigate’.
Another round of war between Oni and Fayemi occurred during the electioneering prior to the 2018 July 14 poll in Ekiti. This time, both were in APC. The primary of APC first held on May 5, 2018 at the Oluyemi Kayode stadium, Ado-Ekiti, was violently disrupted by unprogressive elements in APC because Oni was said to be leading.
Such unprogressive elements were later alleged to have worked for and sponsored by the then Minister Fayemi. But loyalists to Fayemi have denied the allegation, saying it was the usual party crisis.
The party’s primary re-run on May 12, 2018, amidst heavy presence of strict and stern security personnel and probably the tightest security ever for such exercise, had Fayemi clinching the party’s ticket amidst another allegations of several anti-democratic antics which included use of federal might, co-opting and camping helpless delegates into his private corner in some hotels in Ondo state, shielding them away from other candidates and influencing them with intimidating amount of money to buy their vote. The allegations have also been denied from Fayemi camp.
Fayemi, who eventually clinched the ticket, was later declared as winner of the July 14, 2018 poll by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but the battle was not yet over: Urged by his many loyalists, Oni went to court to challenge Fayemi’s eligibility to contest the poll on grounds that he (Fayemi) did not duly resign as a public servant (Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development) one month before he ‘hurried’ into the race as stipulated by the Party’s Guidelines.
A PDP stalwart in the state, Gboyega Ayenimo, while giving his views on Fayemi’s victory on the eligibility case, alleged that: ” In spite of the clear evidence that governor Fayemi was guilty of the charges, the Courts, on technical grounds, handed victory to him like it did in 2010, without considering the merits of the case of Segun Oni.
We, supporters of Segun Oni felt the pains of being treated as lepers and hapless orphans, again urged Oni to lead us out of APC to the PDP, leaving him with no other choice than to listen to our groaning, arising from our legitimate fight for a mandate we believed is ours.
Oni agreed with his supporters, to leave the party, APC which described Oni as a “nominal” and “inactive” member, which they will not miss because he never impacted positively on the party.
“In their myopic view, they have quickly forgotten that Oni was the first substantive Deputy National Chairman (DNC) of the party.
“They, without reasoning, unleashed their attacking dogs and began a campaign of character assassination and reputation battering against Oni who built the party in Ekiti from tatters and broken bricks as the DNC,” he said.
Replying Ayenimo, state chairman of the party and Governor Fayemi’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Paul Omitoso, denied allegations of controversial Court ruling and insisted that governor Fayemi won the eligibility case because he deserved it.
He knocked Oni for dumping APC, saying: “…We did not force him (Oni) to come to the APC…When he said he was coming to the APC, we thought he was coming to be an active member of the APC, but throughout his stay in the APC, he was a nominal member of the party despite being a deputy national chairman.
“He was never a member of the party with a clear conscience. If he now decides that he is leaving the APC, I don’t think there is anything that is not in order. He came here, he never impacted positively on the party except that he has been throwing up some problems.”
Replying Omotoso, Arowosoge, said: “These (Omotoso’s comments) confirm all the allegations we earlier leveled against the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led government and his ‘TokanTokan’ group that they run a cult-like system of administration in the state.
“This is a warning to all Ekiti people to be wary of the Ekiti APC because anybody who is not in their cult can never be regarded, respected and rewarded as part of them but as a nominal member.
“We are disappointed in Omotoso who as a ‘legal practitioner,’ was expecting someone like Segun Oni to commit infractions against the laws of Nigeria; or indirectly confessing to be using his position now to commit such criminal offences.
“Unfortunately for Omotoso, he didn’t know that Oni always guides his good name so jealously and would not involve himself in any act, which would sprinkle red oil on his white garment.
“As a matter of fact, the only property Oni has is his house in Ifaki on Ekiti. He is living in a rented apartment in Abuja and he has no property in Ado Ekiti, the state capital. “Party office holders shouldn’t use their offices to influence award of contracts as stipulated in the party’s constitution,” he said.
In spite of APCs’ criticisms of the return of Chief Segun Oni to PDP, the action, described as “strategic and tactical political move” by Oni’s supporters, has excited the PDP, majority of Ekiti people from other political parties outside APC and brought hope to the teeming supporters and admirers of Segun Oni.
Ayenimo, who is a former University don, oil and gas Chemist and former Social Democratic Party (SDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, described the defection of Oni from APC to PDP as wholesome.
He described Oni as an upright and well-focused personality with an irreversible passion for human development. He said that, “The exit of this visionary leader and eruditely swarming politician (Oni) from APC has sent a warning signal to APC in Ekiti State that its days and those of its occultist and mischievous experiments are numbered in Ekiti State.
“The achievements of Chief Segun Oni during his tenure as Ekiti State governor attest to his good character, his pedigree, transparency and integrity.
“Oni’s unbending principle against illegitimately influencing contracts during his tenure as Deputy National Chairman of APC as alleged by the APC’s chairman, Barrister Omotoso is indicative and corroborative of the circumstantial evidence that Oni is the ‘metaphorical incorruptible politician’ of our time.
During Oni’s time, “There were tremendous developments across the state due to his (Oni) penchant for hard work and accountability. Local government allocations were judiciously apportioned without any impediments unlike under this present government.
“As a matter of fact, the local government financial autonomy, which the FG and the National Assembly are still struggling to establish in 2020, was actually started by Governor Segun Oni in 2008 due to his empathy to grassroot development.
“Not only that, he also granted and extended the legislative and judicial financial autonomy to the two other organs of government in Ekiti State.
“Oni’s track records both in PDP and APC as Governor and Deputy National Chairman respectively, are convincing indications that he is a bastion of hope for Ekiti people at the moment.
“All concocted stories published against him and his Director General, Dr. Arowosoge by the APC chairman and his cohorts are mere fallacies and mischievous fabricated attempts to hoodwink Ekiti people into an upgraded state of penury and hopelessness. “Truth is that there has been no visible infrastructural developments since the exit of Fayose’s administration in Ekiti.
“We advise governor Fayemi to take a clue from his predecessors on governance and embrace progress and development,” he said.
Presently in Ekiti, it does appear that the PDP, which has always wanted Oni back, now has its hope of winning the state back in 2022 greatly rekindled.
There are even rumours that some liberal politicians in Fayemi’s cabinet who are getting frustrated daily are already allegedly gearing up for defection to the PDP at the most appropriate time.
While PDP is celebrating Oni’s return, even with releasing a press statement indicating the development as great fortune for the party ahead of 2022 elections, the APC seems to be silently nursing the deadly blow to its political fortunes and licking their self-inflicted wounds of orchestrating and actualizing the exit of Chief Segun Oni from APC.
