A former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Segun Oni, has begun the process of dumping the party along with his supporters for the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
Oni, a former Ekiti State governor on PDP ticket, said he decided to leave the APC due to the shabby treatment being meted out to him and his supporters.
Oni said he had commenced the process of rapprochement with critical stakeholders in the Ekiti State chapter of PDP such as the former governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, and Senator Biodun Olujimi about his resolve to return to the party.
He said he took the decision to return to the PDP as a way of acceding to the request of his people, who were desirous of taking the political step.
There were speculations on Sunday that Oni, who defected to APC in June 2014, was planning to return to the PDP where he was a foundation member.
Oni, who spoke with journalists on the phone in Ado Ekiti, yesterday expressed displeasure about how he and his supporters were being ostracised from all engagements in APC, including appointments and privilege to contest elections.
While justifying the position taken by him to return to the PDP, the former governor said: “You all knew the kind of treatment I have been getting. As we speak, none of my supporters was being allowed to get an appointment or contest elections in APC.
“If the APC gives me the whole world, I won’t be happy seeing an integral part of my political life, I mean my supporters, being treated badly.
“At a particular time, I was suspended in my ward at Ifaki Ekiti and nothing was said about it. I am the Asiwaju of this town – if someone could have the effrontery to do that to me here, you could see it had sent a signal that there was a problem.
“It is not about Segun Oni, my people and supporters are the main issues.”
Oni, however, didn’t give the actual time he will formally join the PDP.
He said: “We have taken a decision and we are in the process of joining the PDP. We are going to set up an implementation committee to work on our programme of action. Our joining PDP is something that will take about three months.
“I am not that kind of a politician that will rush at things; we can’t just go back that way. There must be proper planning. We are carrying out local government by local government counting of those that will follow us.
“Those who took the action were my supporters across all the local governments and 177 wards, who felt bad about the whole scenario in APC.
“But the major thing is that we are moving; we have taken a decision to go back and on that we are working on.”