A former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, and the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, on Thursday disagreed over his planned defection to the Peoples Democratic Party.
Oni, an APC chieftain and a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, said his proposed return to the PDP under which platform he governed Ekiti State was necessitated by calls by his loyalists to leave in view of the shoddy treatment they were receiving from the APC despite their contributions to the party’s victory in the 2018 governorship election.
However, the APC state Publicity Secretary, Ade Ajayi, denied the allegations.
Oni, who spoke through the Director General of ‘Atunse Ekiti’, Ife Arowosoge, accused the Dr Kayode Fayemi-led government of exhibiting “oppressive nature against Oni’s people, coupled with the nepotism and clannishness witnessed in the appointment into federal, state and local government positions.”
Arowosoge, also said the decision to leave the APC was a collective decision taken by the former governor’s loyalists.
He noted that they had since discovered that the PDP was more democratic.
The director general said, “The PDP made mistakes and apologised, but things are getting worse in the APC. We have contributed to the APC, but get nothing in return, so our defection is justifiable and not self-serving.
“It was our observation that the Ekiti APC does not believe in democracy from ward, local government and state levels while the appointments to government positions at the state and federal levels are limited to family members, friends and associates of the governor.
“Governor Fayemi and his group in Ekiti introduced a novelty of nepotism and clannishness in selecting people into elective positions that is not known to democracy anywhere in the world. In the last election, no nomination form was made available or refund made to any Oni’s supporters.
“Many of our members were threatened with expulsion and suspension while some handpicked ward executives were instigated to suspend Oni indefinitely. We sent a petition to the APC NWC about this irresponsible action, but nothing was done,” he said.
Responding, the APC spokesman, said, “The APC never gave Oni any unfair treatment, rather he was accorded the necessary respect and recognition when he joined the party from the PDP in 2014.
“We are not surprised that he is going back to the PDP where he came from, but I don’t know the shabby treatment that made him to defect to the PDP. He was suspended from his political ward because he offended them and instead of him to attend the ward meeting to explain himself, he refused.
“The constitution of APC stipulates that anybody, no matter how highly placed can be disciplined by the party. If he is now accusing the state executives or leaders, I will rather say he is an ungrateful soul because the party gave him the patronage he does not deserve.”

By Abiodun Nejo