EKITI 2018: Tinubu dissociates self from Oni, throws weight behind Fayemi

Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and Bisi Akande have reaffirmed support for Kayode Fayemi, the party’s candidate for the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State.

Segun Oni, a former Ekiti governor and aspirant at the APC primary, had allegedly filed a suit to challenge the legality of Fayemi’s candidacy on the ground that he did not resign as minister when he contested the party’s primary.

Subsequently, Tinubu and Akande had called on Segun Oni to publicly dissociate himself from the alleged suit asking the court to revoke the candidacy of Fayemi.

Both APC chieftains, alongside Segun Osoba, Niyi Adebayo and Pius Akinyelure, have now reaffirmed their backing of Fayemi in an advertorial on Friday.

They said Fayemi has fulfilled all necessary requirements for the election.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we the undersigned leaders remain solidly behind the candidacy of Kayode Fayemi,” the advertorial published on Nigerian Tribune read.

“We have stood behind Kayode Fayemi’s candidacy since he won the governorship primaries and when we all gathered in Ekiti for the Mega Rally on June 19, it was an emphatic declaration of support for his candidacy.”

The chieftains said they had a meeting with the aspirants who lost the primary election, and suggested that Fayemi run an effective and inclusive campaign that will ultimately lead to an all-inclusive government.

They also demanded the immediate withdrawal of the purported court action.

Bamidele Opeyemi, director of the Fayemi governorship campaign, had on Thursday said, “the doors of the party are wide open to entertain complaints and trash them in the interest of everybody”.

Meanwhile, Oni’s campaign organisation says its members have been sidelined since their principal lost to Kayode Fayemi APC governorship primary.

His supporters accuse the Fayemi campaign of non-inclusiveness, maltreatment, and marginalisation.

In a communiqué released after a meeting in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, the group said the party flagbearer’s camp has demonstrated “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,” the communiqué signed by Ife Arowosoge, director of the organisation, read.

Read also: PDP promises to release data of APC looters

The group said all efforts by Oni and his camp to make Fayemi’s campaign organisation treat them as a 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,” the communique read.

“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.”

The group said it has it on good authority that all the incoming elective positions have been allocated to Fayemi’s cronies and the new joiners without recourse to Oni and his supporters.

On the suit Oni allegedly filed to challenge the legality of Fayemi’s candidacy, the group said, “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”.

 

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