Ekiti 2018: Fayose replies Oni, says APC will face defeat again

GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has reacted to his being called out by a former governor of the state and a governorship aspirant in 2018, Chief Segun Oni, saying he was ready with his party to defeat Chief Oni or any other candidate presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Governor Fayose was reacting on Sunday to a state credited to Oni, at the APC secretariat where he had gone to submit a letter of intention to contest the election, that Fayose and PDP were the common enemies of the party that should be defeated.

Fayose, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, said he and his party, PDP “will use the APC, former Governor Oni or anyone presented by the APC in the 201‎8 governorship election in the state to set electoral records.”

Fayose had expressed confidence that 2018 would mark the third time ‎he and his party would defeat the APC and its candidate in governorship elections in the state.

While advising Oni to keep his gunpowder dry until he is able to secure the APC’s ticket, Fayose noted that t‎he APC and whoever it presents for the election would be no match for the PDP and its candidate.

“Defeating the APC in governorship elections is not new to me and my party. We defeated them in 2003 and recorded a landslide victory against them in 2014 when their candidate could not ‎even win his local government.  The 2014 victory was very remarkable because Oni was part of a gang up of three former governors against me and my party and we won convincingly.

“Oni tried unsuccessfully to rubbish my administration’s giant strides in the state during my first tenure and the current one. It was during my first term that we dualised all the roads leading to Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. We repositioned education and improved on the state’s performance in public examinations. We are number one in NECO and among the top in WAEC examinations.

“Now, we are not only dualising ‎roads across 11 local government areas, we have extended the Ado-Ikere Road dualisation deep into Ikere town. Because the APC and its leaders in Ekiti lack foresight, they can never ever see anything good in the flyover, new Ojaba Market, new high court complex, new Governor’s Office and other numerous projects we are executing.

“They are simply dumbfounded that in spite of the austere ‎times we are in, our administration has been able to forge ahead with these projects. It is only a leadership that is focused and know its onions that can place the welfare of majority of people over and above the welfare of minority.

“Oni and his day dreamers should be reminded that it was the prodigal APC-led administration of 201‎0 to 2014 that plunged the state into financial crisis by leaving workers’ entitlements unpaid and borrowing to finance projects it never executed.

“What the former APC government failed to do to improve the living standard of people and workers, we have come to do and it shows in the support and acceptability of our government by Ekiti people. Let Oni first secure the ticket of his party and then see if he can test his might against the will of Ekiti people,” he said.

The governor added that even if a snap election was called, the APC and its candidate would be defeated by his party’s candidate.