I’m pulling out of APC, says Segun Oni

Segun Oni, a former governor of Ekiti state, says he is on his way out of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Oni, who sought the ticket of the APC but lost to Kayode Fayemi, the incumbent governor, disclosed this to journalists in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Monday.

He said the decision was taken after an observation of alleged maltreatment of his supporters.

The development comes about two years after the former governor threatened to leave the party over alleged harassment of his supporters.

In May 2019, the APC in Ifaki-Ekiti ward two, Ido/Osi local government area of the state, had suspended Oni.

He was suspended for his refusal to honour an invitation sent to him by the “fact-finding committee” of the ward over allegations of anti-party activities levelled against him.

Oni said he is making plans to decamp to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his former party, but gave no exact date for his official return to the PDP.

“You all knew the kind of treatment I have been getting so far. As we speak, none of my supporters was being allowed to get appointment or contest elections in APC,” he said.

“Even if the APC gives me the whole world, I won’t be happy seeing integral part of my political life, I mean my supporters being treated badly as we have come to find it

“You can imagine, at a particular time, I was suspended in my Ward at Ifaki Ekiti and nothing was said about it.

“Apart from politics, I am the Asiwaju, a high title holder in my town; if someone can have the effrontery to do that to me here, you can see it has sent a signal that there is a problem.

“It’s not about Segun Oni, my people and supporters are the main issue. I can confirm to you that we have taken a decision and we are in the process of joining the PDP.

“We are going to set up implementation committee to work on our programme of actions. Our joining PDP is not something that will take three months. I am not that kind of a politician that will rush at things, we can’t just go back that way. There must be proper planning. We are carrying out local government by local government counting of those that will follow us.

“I am not alone in this. Those who took the action for me were my supporters across all the local governments areas  and 177 wards who feel bad about the whole scenario in APC. But the major thing is that we are moving, we have taken a decision to go back and on that we are working on.”