The posters on which the umbrella logo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) appeared were sighted in places in Ado Ekiti metropolis like; Ajilosun, Basiri, Ijigbo, Ilawe Road, Okeyinmi, and other towns like; Ikere-Ekiti and Ifaki, among others.

The posters which confirmed months of speculations on whether or not the Ifaki-Ekiti born politicians would contest the poll shows him decked in a glittering white Aso Oke with a black Awolowo’s style cap.

The posters carrying a bold inscription: “Segun Oni for Governor, for a Greater Tomorrow” were produced and pasted by Ekiti PDP Progressives, a group with the opposition party canvassing support for the former governor.

The campaign materials which attracted so much attention have become the subject of political debates and innuendos that residents now clustered to discuss the consequence of such on the politics of the state.

Oni was the governor of Ekiti between May 29, 2007, and October 15, 2010, after which he was removed through a judgement delivered by former President of Appeal Court, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, in a case instituted by Kayode Fayemi of the Action Congress.

He later joined the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2014 to support Fayemi’s second term ambition, where he held the position of the party’s Deputy National Chairman (South).

The ex-governor returned to the PDP in 2020, the sequel to alleged maltreatment and ostracization of his loyalists by the Governor Fayemi-led APC.

Cross-section of residents including civil servants, artisans, market women and youths averred that Oni remains the messiah that can rescue the people from the jaws of maladministration going his pedigree and laudable achievements in the areas of Infrastructures and prudent management of the lean resources of the state during his ‘ill-fated’ tenure.

Although the former governor has yet to declare his intentions to contest the poll keen observers of Ekiti politics said the posters might be a subtle beginning of his campaign.

Speaking on the development, Dr. Bayo Arowolaju, a member of the Media team of Oni’s political platform named ‘Atunse Ekiti’, said they must have emanated from those agitating for the return of his former boss as a governor.

Arowolaju added that the pressure on his former boss to return as a governor has been immense in the last one year, saying the posters should be one of those agitations.

“Well, as an insider in Atunse Ekiti group, I knew that Engr Segun Oni has not formally declared his intention for the plum seat, but there are agitations from groups and individuals that he should take a plunge in 2022.

“All Ekiti people are beginning to see and appreciate how Segun Oni managed the lean resources of our dear state to build road Infrastructures, construct one storey buildings in primary schools, employ over 6,000 civil servants, revamped Ikun dairy farm, Romaco and other moribund state-owned firms.

“These posters to us were just a call that the right person should be allowed to govern the state for the people to feel the dividends of democracy,” he added.

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Oni, who was also a forner governor of Ekiti, was suspended over alleged anti-party activities.

In a letter dated May 1, 2019 and addressed to Oni by the party’s executives in Oni’s Ifami Ward II, Ekiti, the party said it took the action over the failure of the party chieftain to appear before them to clear the allegations against them.

The letter was signed by the Chairman and Secretary of Ifaki Ward II, Shina Akinloye and Ogunyemi Taiwo respectively as well as 24 other executive members in the ward.

The APC executive in Ido /Osi Local Government through its Assistant Financial Secretary and Assistant Organising Secretary, A. Suleiman and Olanrewaju Olamope respectively also signed.

Apart from being a former governor, Oni also served as the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party under the tenure of Chief John Oyegun.

The letter entitled, ‘Suspension from All Progressives Congress Ward II, Ifaki Ekiti’ read:

”Subject to Article 21 Subsections I, II and X of the APC constitution 2014 as amended.

”We the undersigned executive members of the APC hereby suspend you indefinitely from our great party, based on your refusal to honour our invitation for investigation and fact finding into the allegation of anti-party activities leveled against your person by the members of our party.

“We are by the copy of this letter informing both the local government and state working committee of the party for necessary information and action,” it stated in part.

The party had in a letter dated 24th April 2019 and signed by the ward executives. invited Oni to appear before a panel. “We the executive members of the APC in Ifaki Ward II, hereby request your presence at the Ilero town hall, Ilogbe , Ifaki Ekiti to clear the allegations by members of the APC in your ward.

”Kindly indicate by informing the APC chairman the convenient time and date to appear before members within the next seven days of reception of this letter,” it stated.

The letter of invitation was received on Oni’s behalf by one Segun Adetunji on 25th April, 2019.

Oni’ s problem with the party began last year when he dragged Gov. Kayode Fayemi and the party to court after the May 26, 2018 APC governorship primary.

He had challenged Fayemi’s emergence as candidate and his eligibility to participate in the election.

The forner governor had insisted that, going by the constitution of the party, Fayemi , being a Minister in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari ought to have resigned his post 30 days to the primary.

He had also claimed that Fayemi was not qualified to contest, alleging that he had been found guilty of certain offences by a Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by former Gov. Ayo Fayose and which also banned him from holding public office for 20 years.

Fayose’s 10 year ban was, however, upturned by an Abuja High Court as well as the Appeal Court.

He later won the July 14 governorship election by defeating the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Prof. Kolapo Olusola.

The Supreme Court also dismissed Oni’s suit for lack of merit, saying Fayemi did not breach the law by resigning after the primary.

The post Ekiti APC suspends Oni for alleged anti-party activities appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

A team sent by the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Engineer Segun Oni, was at the Lagos home of Adams to dialogue with him on the proposal of the APC to restructure the country and present to him copies of the report of the Committee on Restructuring.

The Committee, headed by the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, submitted the report to the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, a few weeks back.

The delegation from Oni, made up of Senator Olu Adetunmbi, the Secretary of the el-Rufai committee, and Otunba Ben Oguntuase, told Adams that as one of the champions of the restructuring of the country, his input remains critical to the eventual position of the party on the issue.

Adetunmbi said: “We are here to let you know that your views are important. We cannot embark on such a project without consulting proponents of restructuring like you. We have followed your position and know it is germane when it comes to State Police, system of governance and restructuring of the polity general.”

Adams, who apart from his personal views on restructuring, was also at the 2014 Constitutional Conference, where he and others championed the cause, told the delegation that his first instinct was to clarify from them if the position of the party on restructuring was not just to get reelected in 2019 only to abandon the cause thereafter.

He said his belief in the restructuring of the country remains unshaken and unwavering, adding that without it, “we cannot become a Nation speaking with one voice and with a single focus”.

The Aare Ona Kakanfo said the restructuring of the country cannot be said to be complete without resolving the issue of State Police and the reversal to the six geopolitical structure of governance.

He said the present structure of governance was not only lopsided and a waste of resources, it can also not guarantee the flow of democratic dividends to the people at the grassroots, who should be the priority of the government.

He said: “There is no way the man at the grassroot will feel the impact of governance if the majority of the decisions affecting his day to day living are taken in Abuja. Before this will permeate to the grassroots, the impact would have been lost.”

Aare Adams said he stands with anyone or group that believes in the restructuring of the country, adding: “Before we begin the talk of election in 2019, this issue must be tackled headlong, “Otherwise, we still remain a country sitting on a keg of gunpowder.”

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