Ekiti: Supreme Court Fallout, APC expels Oni

By Ayodele Oni, Ado Ekiti

Few weeks after the Supreme Court dismissed the eligibility suit filed against Governor Kayode Fayemi by Segun Oni a former chieftain of the All Progressives Party, APC the party has wielded the big stick on the ex-helmsman of Ekiti state by expelling him from the party.

Chief Oni had following the apex court judgment announced his retirement from active politics, but sources said he was expelled as punishment for failure to withdraw the case against the incumbent.

Chief Oni, popularly called CSO by his followers got the surprise package from APC for his refusal to yield to pressure to withdraw a suit he instituted against the party and Governor Fayemi as part of the fallout of 2018 governorship primary of the party, sources told the magazine.

The former governor, who ruled the state between 2009 and 2011, was a former member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP). He was removed from office by a court of appeal judgement, which nullified his election and brought into office Dr Fayemi.

Oni was later elected as a deputy national chairman of PDP but also booted out by a court judgement as part of the fallout of the crisis which engulfed the PDP after the eight years regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Still in search of relevance, chief Oni joined the APC in 2014 and became its deputy national chairman, south, a position he was holding until last year when he resigned to contest in the governorship primary of the APC.

He came second after Dr Fayemi and dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, he decided to challenge the outcome in court. Despite attempts to prevail on him to drop the suit up to the point that he was offered the senatorial ticket for ekiti north, he insisted on pursuing the case to the end.

He stated in the suit that Dr Fayemi ought to have resigned his appointment in line with the APC constitution before he contested for the governorship primary last year but he refused. The supreme court had since dismissed the case.

Immediately the case was dismissed by the supreme court, chief Oni announced his decision to quit partisan politics insisting that he has no regret challenging the outcome of the governorship primary in court.

It was gathered that the national leadership of the APC has conveyed the decision to expel chief Oni to him through the state chapter of the party, which was confirmed by a member of the state working committee of the party in Ado Ekiti, but some close associates described it as a belated decision since he has resigned from partisan politics.

It was also learnt that a former senator and an ex member of the House of Representatives  fingered to be the arrow heads of the court case will equally be sanctioned for their roles.