Ekiti Election: Oni Group meets Over Fayemi’s Sidelined

The Segun Oni Campaign Organisation, SOCO led by the former House Representatives and Director General, DG, Hon. Dr. Ife Arowosoge met on Wednesday in Segun Oni situation office, Ado- Ekiti over the All Progressive Congress governorship candidate, Kayode Fayemi sidelined his Principal Segun Oni and their members.

This is the full Story:

COMMUNIQUE OF THE MEETING OF CAMPAIGN COUNCIL CHAIRMEN, SECRETARIES AND SOME NOTABLE LEADERS HELD AT THE SITUATION OFFICE, SEGUN ONI CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION, OPOPOGBORO, ADO-EKITI ON 27 JUNE, 2018

PREAMBLE
In this meeting which was well attended by all the chairmen, secretaries and Leaders except Chief Abiodun Ajayi and Chief Akin Fasae who were absent for personal reasons and Hon Boluwade Kehinde who sent apology, all the sixteen Local Government Areas were fully represented. A passionate review of the political situation since after the primary election shows :

1) that immediately after the May 12 gubernatorial primary election of our great party, the APC, our principal Chief Segun Oni, without any hesitation congratulated the declared winner, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi and immediately directed all members of his political family to work for the success of our party and its candidate, Dr.Kayode Fayemi. Our members obeyed this directive and switched into action immediately at the ward levels in strict obedience of our leader’s directive. Consequence upon the above, our group has since been making tremendous efforts at ensuring victory for our party and its candidate at the July 14, election.

2) that to our greatest surprise, the John Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organization (JKFCO) has since from onset adopted the attitude of non-inclusiveness, ostracization, marginalization, and demonstration of open hatred for Segun Oni and his group. The insinuation for all these started before the primary, when it was reported that the main reason while Dr. Fayemi joined the race was to prevent a “stranger” like Segun Oni from taking over the APC. Their gospel belief is that Chief Segun Oni, the former Deputy National Chairman (South) for APC is a PDP member who is a stranger to the APC. ridiculous as it sounds!

3) that all efforts by Segun Oni and his group in all the 16 local governments’ area of Ekiti State to make Fayemi and his group treat us as one united political family has proved abortive. It has become more worrisome in that the Fayemi group has continued its acts of marginalization, maltreatment, harassment and intimidation of our members at our party rallies. For instance one of our member was recently seriously beaten and macheted at Ikole rally merely for being at the rally. This is part of the make-belief attitude from them that they can do it alone.

4) that it is instructive to know that Segun Oni group has the highest concentration of former political office holders in Ekiti State including Segun Oni himself; former Senators, former House of Representatives members, former Speakers , members of state House of Assemblies and other high ranking office holders, yet, they are not recognized by the Fayemi group. Now, they have taken the newly decamped PDP leader and his followers as a preferred and perfect substitute to Segun Oni and his group.

5) that we have it on good authority that all the incoming elective positions have been shared or allocated exclusively to the Fayemi group and the new PDP joiners without recourse to Segun Oni and his group.

6) that it is worrisome that the 15 member Apex Election Committee of JKFCO headed by Chief Alaba Abejide, is without a single place for any of the Segun Oni group members.

7) that though we believe that it’s the prerogative of the candidate of the party to nominate his deputy, we strongly and rightly feel that in the name of harmonious working relationship, Segun Oni and the leaders of his group should have had the right of discussion and agreement on the nomination of the Deputy Governorship candidate of the party.

8) As our immediate reaction to all these stated anomalies, a meeting of the leaders of the Segun Oni Campaign Organization was held on 2nd day of June 2018 to discuss our fears and ways to mitigate them. The meeting unanimously agreed to a resolution that the Director General of the Campaign, Hon. Dr Ife Arowosoge was mandated to issue a release so that every stake-holder including our leaders at both the SouthWest and National levels of the party would have a clear opportunity of knowing our harrowing and tormenting experiences. Yet, the reactions from the JKFCO were nothing but abuses, other form of recriminations and further maltreatment of our leaders and members in all the local governments.

9) that the perception from JKFCO is as if Segun Oni was in the opposition party during the primary.

10) that rather than seeing and treating Segun Oni and his group as partners in the quest for a resounding victory for our great party, APC in the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti, the JKFCO has been nursing the fleeting illusion that they could do it without the Segun Oni and his group who shall therefore be put in the cooler for the four-year tenure of Fayemi. Chief Segun Oni and his group at the state, local government and the ward levels, who have labored to rebuild and regenerate our party since the unfortunate defeat of 2014, and have moved across the mountains, plains and valleys of Ekitiland all these years, will not take their groaning alone any more.

11) that it is not the Segun Oni group alone that is suffering marginalization and maltreatment in the hands of the candidate of our party but other leading contestants like Senators Babafemi Ojudu, Gbenga Aluko, Mr Kayode Ojo, etc., are almost in the same shoes with the Segun Oni and his group.

12) that we have it on good authority that the party executives at all levels of the party in the state, are completely sidelined and don’t know what’s going on with the campaign structure, organization, functions & activities. It is as a follow up to the above and the recent court case that a meeting of the Segun Oni Campaign Council was held on the 27th day of June 2018 at the Segun Oni Situation Office. After exhaustive deliberation on all of the above and the court case, the meeting unanimously agreed on certain decisions upon which this communique was issued and the adopted resolutions are as follows:

1. That all members of the Segun Oni political family at the unit, ward and local government levels in all the 16 local governments, should continue to work for the success of our great, APC and its governorship candidate, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi at the July 14, 2018 election.

2. That we are aware of the recent case pending before the High Court of Ekiti State instituted by the government of Ekiti Sate against the candidate of our party, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, for the purpose of disqualifying him from contesting the forth-coming election slated for July 14, 2018, thereby rendering our party incapable of presenting candidate at the election or removing him from office after winning the election if Ekiti State government wins their case no matter how long that takes.

3. That it is on this note we unanimously resolved to support the fore-sighted legal action instituted by the Segun Oni group as this will not only prevent the party from not being part of the governorship election but very importantly strengthens the rule of law and our democracy in Nigeria. Also, the legal action will defend our rights, privileges and interests within the party.

4. That the Concerned and Informed APC members should endeavor to educate our teeming supporters and members of the public that the main purpose of the court action by the Segun Oni group is to rescue our party particularly at the state level, should the Ekiti State government’s case is decided against our candidate at any time. And also to protect the best interest of the members of the group and the greatest interest of the greatest number of Ekiti people.

5. That we urge our principal, Chief Segun Oni and other leaders and members of the group not to chicken-out because of any intimidation, manipulation, oppression, cajole, harassment and or any pressure from any quarters and thereby back out of the court case under any pretext, real or imagined.

6. That we
appreciate the counsel of our SouthWest leaders, recently read in the media but we plead for their understanding that our decision to go to court is to protect in particular, the current and future best interest of our group members of the party that are suffering so much unwarranted abuse and humiliation and who are not seen, heard or recognized as part of APC. Whereas, members of PDP who joined ‘yesterday’ have suddenly become the beautiful bride.

7. That the meeting of this Campaign Council should be held regularly to review elections and other matters affecting our leaders and members.

Signed
Hon. Dr. Ife Arowosoge DG, SOCO
For and on behalf of the Segun Oni Campaign Council