Ekiti’s political space charged as Oni’s guber posters surface

The political space in Ekiti State was charged yesterday, as the 2022 gubernatorial posters of former Governor Segun Oni surfaced in strategic locations in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital and other major towns across the state.

Adorned with “Segun Oni For Governor, For Better Tomorrow,” the posters have the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) logo.

The development kept political watchers wondering about the import of the posters, seeing that the Ekiti governorship election would hold in 2022, even as they wondered why Oni and his supporters were in a hurry to deploy posters ahead of the polls.

The posters were pasted in the Ajilosun, Basiri, Ijigbo, Ilawe Road, Okeyinmi, PDP Secretariat at Ajilosun areas of Ado-Ekiti, as well as Ikere-Ekiti, Ifaki and other towns in the 16 councils of the state.

Although Oni was not available to confirm whether or not he authorised the pasting of the posters, as calls made to his telephone line were not answered as at the time of filling the report.

But a member of the media team of the former governor’s political platform, Atunse Ekiti, Dr. Bayo Arowolaju, said the pictures must have emanated from those agitating for Oni’s return as a governor of the state.

Arowolaju, who spoke on telephone in Ado-Ekiti, added that the pressure on Oni to return as governor, had been intense in the last one year, saying the posters might be a representation of the agitations.

“As an insider in the Atunse Ekiti group, I know that Segun Oni has not formally declared his intention to run, but there are agitations from groups and individuals that he should take a plunge in 2022.”

“Ekiti people are beginning to see and appreciate how Segun Oni managed the scarce resources of the state to build road infrastructure, build primary schools, employ over 6,000 civil servants, revamped the Ikun Dairy Farm, Romaco and other moribund state-owned firms.

“To us, the posters are a call that the right person should be allowed to govern the state for the people to feel, see, and enjoy the dividends of democracy,” he stated.

The posters have attracted so much anxiety, as residents discussed the propriety or otherwise of the development and when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not released the timetable for the governorship election.

Oni was governor of Ekiti between May 29, 2007 and October 15, 2010, before he was removed through a judgment delivered by former President of the Appeal Court, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, in a case instituted by Kayode Fayemi of the defunct Action Congress (AC).