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Politics of Wednesday, 28 July 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Zoning will jeopardize PDP’s chances in election - Ex-Gov Oni

Former Governor of Ekiti, Segun Oni Former Governor of Ekiti, Segun Oni

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni has stated that zoning in the largest opposition party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the governorship election holding in the state next June will affect the party's electoral chances.

According to him, the party should and must select a candidate with chances of defeating the All Progressive Congress (APC) in a free, fair and credible election, rather than politics of identity.

The governorship aspirant said the people of Ekiti have rejected the ruling party due to its failure in the areas of security, employment generation and economy.

Recently, politicians of southern extraction, including ex-Ekiti deputy governor Prof Kolapo Olusola had insisted that the PDP should zone its governorship ticket to Ekiti South that had not produced the governor since 1999, The Nations is quoted.

But responding in Ado-Ekiti yesterday during an interactive session with reporters on his mission to return to Ekiti Government House in 2022, Oni said zoning would do damage to the PDP.

He said: “When I was going in 2010, I said we should help the South to become governor. No governor had ever liked the South more than me. I gave key positions like the Minister, Secretary to the State Government, Commissioner for Works to the South when I was the governor.

“Let me say this clearly, only a ruling party can zone governorship. But if you are in opposition, you should only think of who can take power. Let me thank Mr. Ayodele Fayose, he had the luxury as a governor and he went for it, though we lost in 2018.”

“Governor Kayode Fayemi, who is in power, is the only one that can answer the zoning call now, because he is in government. The PDP should think of who can win election. We don’t want to be nice guys this time, but a good and determined opposition party”.

Oni said PDP has a high possibility of winning the next election in Ekiti.  He noted that the people were already disillusioned with the APC government.

“Ekiti voters are ready for us, I mean ready to vote for us. No party can be lucky more than this. Our road to the Government House is almost clear, people have been saying that to us. Though we have internal crises, we will resolve our differences, because we don’t want to play a second fiddle again.”

The former governor described the insecurity in Ekiti, where people were being killed and kidnapped, as very unfortunate, saying he would rise to the occasion and stem the tide if given the opportunity to serve as the governor.

He added: “The issue of insecurity is very unfortunate, but not peculiar to Ekiti alone. When I was the governor, we constructed a panic alert system, that could alert the police anywhere there was a gunshot in Ekiti and police would just come to the location quickly to rescue the situation.

“You don’t allow insecurity to come and meet you, it will overwhelm you and this is what we are experiencing now. As someone who is fighting insecurity, you must be at the front thinking outside the box. Those in government should have a rethink on security issues.”