The re-election bid of Governor Kayode Fayemi got a massive boost yesterday when the immediate past Ekiti State Governor, Engineer Segun Oni defected from Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Oni, while announcing the defection on Monday at his Ifaki-Ekiti home, said he dumped the PDP to help current the Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi to win a second term.
Oni, who was sent packing from the government house in October 2010 by a Court of Appeal judgement that declared Fayemi as the duly elected governor, said Fayemi is the best option for the state in the June 21 governorship election.
“Today, we are erecting a new platform to build the future of Ekiti, the future is paramount in our hearts and what our children will say about us. Though, we might have had a past that was rough together, we must think of who can take the right decisions for us to build a prosperous future for Ekiti.
“I am not talking of perfection here but something that is better, something that can give us a better tomorrow.”
Fayemi, in his response, described Oni’s defection as “a home coming.” He went on to assure Oni that he would be accorded all the rights and privileges of a leader in APC.
Only last week, most of the council chairmen during Oni’s three and a half years reign as governor defected to APC, which according to analysts was an act that prepared their boss’s move.
Oni was the PDP Deputy National Chairman, South West, before joining Abubakar Baraje faction of the party, which broke away in PDP National Congress last year. His election was declared illegal and was asked to vacate his position in the party at the height of the crises in the PDP.