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Tag: Olusegun Oni

  • Ekiti 2018: Nothing will make me defect to PDP, says Ex-Gov. Oni

    Ekiti 2018: Nothing will make me defect to PDP, says Ex-Gov. Oni

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Chairman (South), Mr Olusegun Oni, has denied holding secret meetings with leaders of the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to achieve his 2018 gubernatorial ambition in Ekiti.

    Oni, also a former governor of Ekiti, said his while addressing a news conference in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday.

    He said that he had never had a one-on-one with the PDP National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi in his life.

    He also denied holding any secret meetings with Gov. Ayodele Fayose at any  hotel in Lagos.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oni was reacting to rumours that he was holding secret meetings to discuss the possibility of crossing over to the PDP to realise his 2018 gubernatorial ambition.

    Oni had recently declared his intention to contest the next gubernatorial seat in the state, as the tenure of the current administration will end in October, 2018, while the election is expected to hold by mid 2018.

    He decried what he called “attacks from within” by those allegedly uncomfortable with his ambition to vie for the governorship seat next year.

    He alleged that some people had been assigned  to pull him down by all means, saying the alleged attacks were  only making him to become  more popular.

    Oni, who said he was not desperate to become governor again, stressed that the fates all of all aspirants jostling for the party’s ticket would be decided by delegates at the party’s primary.

    The APC deputy national chairman, South, also denied holding any meeting with the PDP National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi in Ifaki Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area.

    The former governor urged his supporters and the people of the state not to believe the rumour and hate  campaign being mounted against him by people he described as “faceless individuals” on the social media.

    He said that such rumours would not distract him, but make him to be more focused on selling his ideas on how he intended to make Ekiti better to the electorate

    “Some individuals have written a petition against me to the party’s national secretariat demanding that I step down immediately as Deputy National Chairman (South).

    “But, it is like these individuals have forgotten that the party’s constitution allows me to remain in that post until one month before the primaries.

    “The attacks are from within the party and most of them are coming from the social media, but I am not bothered at all because whatever that will be good will be rough initially.

    “I am very much aware that some people have been given the assignment to pull me down, but I put my trust in God and at the end, good will triumph over the evil.

    “I want to say categorically that I will not be discouraged.

    “Anybody who does not want Oni will either contest against him or support any aspirant. I am not desperate to be governor, and I will leave (my post) when the (party) constitution says I should leave.

    “By saying that I met Fayose in a hotel in Lagos and Makarfi in my house in Ifaki-Ekiti, these people are over rating me and I feel honoured.

    “The last one-on-one I had with Gov.Fayose was a day after Gen. Adebayo was buried when I brought the invitation from the Borisade family to officially notify him of his demise and to also congratulate him on the honour done Baba Adebayo.

    “I have never had a one-on-one with Makarfi and if they are saying he was in my home, I feel honoured.

    “Those saying this have nothing to sell, but I have told my people not to abuse or attack anybody; if they have the product that is sellable, they should continue to sell it,” he said.

  • FG fixes boarding fare ahead of Abuja-Kaduna rail commissioning

    FG fixes boarding fare ahead of Abuja-Kaduna rail commissioning

    As President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to commission the completed Abuja-Kaduna rail project, the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi on Thursday, fixed boarding fare for passengers who intend to ply the route.

    The Minister, who was accompanied by the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Oyegun, former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Oni, and other party chieftains in Abuja, stated that the project has been finalized and ready for commercial operation.

    Amaechi said passengers who intend to board executive and economy seats would be charged N900 and N500 respectively.

    On perimeter fencing, Amaechi disclosed that the contract has been awarded and work will soon commence at the terminals.

    “When we get money, we will start fencing. The contract has been awarded and we are looking for money but we will soon get money and we hope to start fencing in the next two – three months.

    “We are expecting new locomotives and when it comes, we will then make arrangement in next year budget to buy more coaches so that we can have one of the trains stopping in all the stations and the other doing Kaduna – Abuja,” the Minister said.

    In his remark, Oyegun admitted the project was initiated by the past administration but far from completion.

    He added that aside from other additional considerations, the project also gave attention to the disabled persons who may want to access the service.

    “Within one year of the present minister, under direction of the president, he set every other thing in place that makes it a railway line. It is functional, ready to roll. It will start rolling commercially,” Oyegun said.

    Also speaking, the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okhira said the service will ease pressure on the roads, increase easy delivery of goods and services.

    He expressed optimism that before 2017, the railway corridors will also witness fast development.

    Okhira said: “This will project will also take a lot pressure off the roads, the roads will last longer and accidents will reduce. You cannot quantify all these in naira and kobo.

    “Rail infrastructure brings development. In less than a year you will see industries and estates spring up along the rail corridor because there is means of transportation.

    “Right now, we are moving three trains of fertilizers from Lagos to Kaduna for Flour Mills. We started moving for Lafarge from Gombe to Kafanchan and Kaduna. We are still talking with the petroleum suppliers to partner with us.

    “Presently we have a few customers we move petroleum products for with our pressurized tanks. We also use some to move our diesel across our stations. We use over 15 trucks of diesel a month.

    “On Abuja to Kaduna, we will have parcel wagons but not huge loads. We have 20 rail wagons and open wagons.”

     

  • Why I didn’t support Fayose, by Oni

    Why I didn’t support Fayose, by Oni

    Eormer  Ekiti State Governor Olusegun Oni has declared governor-elect Ayodele Fayose as a wrong role model for youths.

    Speaking on a radio programme, “Face the Nation”, broadcast on RockCity 101.9 fm Abeokuta, Ogun State, Oni said  this was one of the reasons why he did not support Fayose and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the poll.

    He said:  “Fayose had been governor of Ekiti State. His records are there and cast your mind back and judge in your own mind whether what I’m saying is true. It is about the personalities of the two people involved, it is about the future of our state, who can place it firmly under , it is about the fact that we don’t want a governor whose image will rubbish us .

    “I have been governor and if anybody comes to that office and misbehaves, I will feel like it is the office that has misbehaved. If your governor misbehave, anytime, I will feel like it is the office that has misbehaved and if the office of the governor misbehaves, I will feel bad that a part of me has misbehaved.”

    Oni, who is the Deputy Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he held  no grudge and had forgiven  those who played a role in his abrupt exit from office four years ago.

    “ I have forgiven Dr. Fayemi, I have forgiven Fayose, I have forgiven everybody, and so, the issue of vengeance did not come in. But I look at both of them, who will make us as Ekiti people more confident about the future, our children more secure and our future more assured, who I can recommend to my child or other children as their role model.  Because I will never campaign for anybody for the governorship of any state and I want to tell you, if I cannot point to that person as a role model for the children in that state or my own children. I’m sorry, I am not here to run down anybody.”

    “ People will ask me,why are you doing this against PDP,is it because the party offended you? And I say I have forgiven everybody including institutions that offended me, but why would the PDP for God’s sake not listen to what we keep saying,” Oni queried. The former governor  insisted that Fayose did not win the PDP primaries.

    “They arranged it for him and if you must arrange anything for somebody,let that person be very credible, let that person have the image, let that person be that who will lift us up not an image that will undermine,  so they arranged for the wrong person and my conscience would not stand beside Governor Fayose on the podium to ask people to vote for him as governor,” he said.

  • ‘Oni’s defection to APC, not a threat to our victory in Ekiti’

    ‘Oni’s defection to APC, not a threat to our victory in Ekiti’

    The Southwest Caretaker Committee chairman, , Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Chief Ishola Filani, has averred that the dumping of the party by former governor of Ekiti State, Olusegun Oni, for All Progressives Congress (APC), is not a threat to the party’s victory ahead of the next month’s governorship polls.

    Filani, who was just reinstated by a court ruling along with his other committee members, spoke in Ibadan while addressing journalists at the PDP Southwest office in Bodija, Ibadan.

    “Oni has no electoral value and is not a threat to PDP winning Ekiti State back with Fayose. No important member of our party in Southwest has decamped to the opposition party as far as I am concerned. More APC and Labour Party members are even joining PDP back now and I am sure that with machinery in place, we shall win in Ekiti and Osun states.

    According to him, PDP remained solid unlike other opposition parties that are making alliances and breaking up later.

    “Elections are not won on individual’s name. It is not about personality, but votes are won through rigorous campaigns, hard-work and party manifesto,” he added.

    He stated further that the coming back to office of the committee would ensure consultation and unity in the party to bring back its aggrieved members.

    Filani called all the people in Southwest to support PDP in order to ensure progress and development of Yorubaland.

    He thanked the leadership of the party for embracing the rule of law, by returning him and his committee members back into their positions.