The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the June 18 election in Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, has dismissed the news milling rounds that he had struck a deal with the Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to backtrack on his aspiration for the victory of APC candidate, Biodun Oyebanji.
Oni said that he won’t deny the fact that he and Tinubu were once intimate friends but clarified that the All Progressives Congress National leader’s emergence as a presidential candidate won’t be made him abandon his governorship aspiration or compromise it.
Oni became the APC National Deputy Chairman (South), at the prodding of the Lagos State Governor in 2015, before he returned to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019.
Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday, Oni debunked ever entering any deal with anyone, including Tinubu.
“Let me say that this is a lie, I have not seen Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for over a year now. I am here for the Ekiti people and I will not compromise the interest of Ekiti people for anything.
“I am not also desperate. I am a contented person and I am not a person that can be bought with money, I can’t be purchased. So, I did not meet anybody anywhere to compromise my candidacy”, Oni stated.
Oni said he hearkened to the persuasion from the generality of Ekiti people to veer into the race and that he won’t betray the confidence reposed in him by being steadfast and honest in the prosecution of the election.
Oni also lambasted politicians planning to buy the conscience of the people in the election, describing vote-buying as an unpardonable criminal offence in the face of the law.
The former governor was enthralled with the hint dropped on Tuesday by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, that vote-buying will be difficult to perpetrate in Ekiti.
He also appreciated the commission for his resolve to work with the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) and Independent Corrupt and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to tackle the perpetrators of the criminal tendency.
“EFCC and ICPC operatives must clamp down on those who want to be in power at all cost, but as good as this is, our people must resist an unlawful arrest. Nobody should be arrested unlawfully while others are being protected. The clampdown must be total.
“If anyone commits an offence, let him be arrested lawfully through a warrant of arrest. We have seen a situation whereby the minority was lorded over the majority, but it won’t happen again in Ekiti.
“Vote buying is a criminal offence and that the position of the ballot box must be such that you drop your ballots before the prying eyes of the buyers saw where you voted”.
He assured that the SDP won’t engage in vote-buying, but added: “This doesn’t mean some people will not be paid for rendering services to us, but for vote-buying, SDP is bluntly opposed to this”.
