The Guardian (Nigeria)

No Red Carpet Reception For Oni In PDP — Fayose

• Why I’m Coming Back, By Oni

- From Ayodele Afolabi, Ado Ekiti

THerewon’t be red carpet reception for former governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni, when he returns to the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), says immediate past governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

He urged Oni and his followers to go and register at their wards.

Meanwhile, Oni has assured that return bid to his former party was to encourage teamwork and build fellowship among members.

Fayose, who said that the governorsh­ip ticket of the

PDP would not be served Oni a la carte, however, denied saying that the ex- governor was not welcome in PDP as reported in social media.

Speaking through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, the immediate past governor noted that the membership of a political party was optional.

Olayinka stated, “What the man ( Fayose) said is that if you are coming back to the party after leaving for about six years, there won’t be red carpet reception. Like when Fayose went and came back in 2012, there was no red carpet reception for him then. “Fayose said whoever that is coming should quietly go and register in his or her ward, which is the normal thing to do.

“The other issue now is that Oni’s people are acting as if he is coming to just pick the governorsh­ip ticket of the PDP where it is being kept for him. But Fayose is saying that he has the right to say that his loyalists and supporters who were with him for long are also qualified to be governor.”

Oni recently dumped the All Progressiv­es Congress ( APC) for the PDP with thousands of his supporters in the state. In a letter he signed with 82 other leaders in his network across the 16 councils in the state, he formally notified stakeholde­rs and chapters of the party at the ward, state and national levels of his return to the PDP.

Director General of his Atunse Ekiti Movement, Dr. Ifeoluwa Arowosoge, stated that the developmen­t was a home- coming to the party that he helped to build and on whose platform he was elected governor in 2007.

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