APC/PDP Merger: I am ready to work with Oni, says Fayemi

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday, said he is ready to work with his predecessor in office, Chief Olusegun Oni, in the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the splinter group in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last Tuesday announced a working arrangement with the APC.

Fayemi stated this in Erinmope-Ekiti during his tour of towns in Moba Local Government Area of the state.

Answering questions from reporters, the governor said he saw Oni as a progressive politician going by his antecedents as a founding member of the defunct Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) and the defunct Action Congress (AC), both progenitors of the APC.

The two men were also members of Ekiti-based group, the E-Eleven, which played prominent role in the battle to remove former Governor Ayodele Fayose from office in 2006.
Oni, who is having a frosty relationship with Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led PDP following his removal as the National Vice Chairman, Southwest, is a member of the splinter group in the PDP.

Responding to whether he would be ready to embrace Oni and his supporters in the APC, sequel to the political acrimony between the two over the 2007 governorship election, culminating in judicial battle that lasted for three years, Fayemi posited that he was ready to work with every right-thinking Nigerian to rescue the country from collapse.

He said: “If you know the political antecedents of former Governor Segun Oni, you will know that he has always been a member of this party. He has always been a progressive. We worked together at the launch of ACD which worked together with the Alliance for Democracy for the formation of Action Congress.

“So, I see no reason why his coming on board will not be welcomed by right-thinking progressive Ekiti people. We are unique, Ekiti is one. We belong to one group, so anyone who is a lover of progress, a lover of development, a lover of peace is clearly welcome.

“ I am not aware he has reached that conclusion yet, but he is somebody that I talked to time to time. He is a leader in Ekiti, regardless of politics. As a leader, I discuss generally Ekiti matters and development with him,” he said.

On the issue of differential in political ideology between the merging groups, Fayemi described this as “immaterial at this point in time”, saying what was paramount was how to save the country from being run aground.

“When you are trying to rescue a country from the verge of collapse or from the brink, the issue of ideology is secondary. What should be paramount is saving the country first.

“It happened under Winston Churchill of the Conservative Party, who worked with the major opposition party to save Great Britain during Hitler’s incursion. The present Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron is from Conservative Party, while his Deputy is from the Liberal Party, all working for the greater interest of Great Britain.

“I have never been one of those people who believe that all the people in the PDP are bad while everybody in the APC is good. Go to Rivers State and see what Governor Rotimi Amaechi has done as a governor. He is until his defection a member of PDP.

“Even a PDP governorship aspirant, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, was a member of AD and the Publicity Secretary of Afenifere. So, all these people were in our fold before they joined other parties for their personal reasons,” he concluded.