January 28, 2018

Chief Segun Oni, a former governor of Ekiti and Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said on Sunday that he was not planning to defect to another party.

Oni, who was reacting to an online report that he was planning to join a speculated coalition, said there was no iota of truth in the publication.

The spokesman for Oni, Mr Steve Alabi, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti quoted his principal as describing the report as the product of the imagination of the writer.

The statement read in part: “ Why would I decamp to any other political party, either existing or yet to be formed aside the APC.

“ I have said times without number, and I want to reiterate it, as far as Segun Oni is concerned, the reason why I’m contesting this election is because of my party.

“Therefore, if I’m not the candidate of my party, I will still work for my party, if I lose the upcoming Ekiti APC primaries, I will remain loyal to the party.

“ Why will I leave the APC? I have been here; we conscientiously fought the PDP out of power, with everything we have got.

”Those peddling the rumours are either bystanders or those who don’t believe in the agenda of President Buhari and who are now trying to find ways of rubbishing people who believe in the president.

”I’m a member of the APC and by the grace of God, the Deputy National Chairman. I don’t know any other party. I don’t have a plan B. My plan A, B or C is APC because I’m not desperate.

”Why would I be desperate when I know that honour has no equivalent? So if anybody tells you I want to go to any other party, the question you should ask the person is whether I told him so or if I held any meeting with him where such matter was discussed.”

The statement added that it was incongruous that Oni, who just received a PDP chieftain, Sen. Basheer Garba Mohammed, into the APC fold in Kano over the weekend could be defecting himself.

“It is not the first time that rumour-mongers are spreading such fake stories of decamping about Oni.

“ The other time, they said he was defecting to APGA. This time, it is a party that is yet to be birthed,’’ it said.

“After the failed APGA story, they want to come out again using Oni to gain prominence or sell their platform, but they have forgotten that the credentials of Chief Segun Oni could not be faulted.

“So, I will advise them to try another person, but, for Segun Oni, they are already a failure on arrival,’’ it added.