A few hours before the commencement of the 2022 governorship election in Ekiti State, Segun Oni may be disqualified as the candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
This is as the SDP has filed a suit before a federal high court in Ado Ekiti seeking his disqualification as the party’s governorship candidate.
The plaintiffs in the case submitted that Oni didn’t participate in any valid primary election conducted by the party.
The suit marked FHC/C/31/2022 and filed on Wednesday, has the SDP as the first plaintiff, while Ishola Agboola, Tunde Alabi and Kehinde Rufus are the second, third and fourth plaintiffs, respectively.
According to the suit, Oni was only nominated by Shehu Gabam and Olu Agunloye, who they claim can’t be legally recognised as the national chairman and the national secretary of the party, respectively.
They, therefore, want the court to declare Oni’s emergence as the SDP governorship candidate for Saturday’s election in Ekiti as wrongful, illegal, null and void.
The suit also wants a court order stopping Gabam and Agunloye from further parading themselves as national chairman and national secretary or as officers of SDP, arguing that as of January 2022, the national executive council of the SDP had suspended Agunloye and Gabam over alleged misconduct.
Recall Oni had crossed to the SDP after losing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary conducted on January 26 in Ekiti State to Bisi Kolawole.
He later secured the SDP governorship ticket to contest the June 18 polls in Ekiti State.
Speaking on Sunday during a debate organized for governorship candidates, Oni disclosed that he dumped the PDP because he dislikes cheating.
He added that he can’t pitch his tent with cheaters, hence the reason for his defection.
