Ekiti 2022: Ex-Rep Dumps APC, Joins Oni’s SDP

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bimbo Daramola, has dumped the All Progressives Congress and joined to the opposition Social Democratic Party ahead of the June 18 governorship poll in Ekiti State.
Besides Daramola, others who defected to SDP are the Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on Political Matters, Mr. Taye Olatunji, alongside  2,600 of their supporters.
Daramola defected  and registered for membership of the SDP at Ward 2, Ire Ekiti, Oye Local Government, while Olatunji joined the party at Ido/Osi Local Government.
Addressing his supporters, Daramola posited that his defection to the SDP was not an ill-cinceived political move.
The former legislator said : “What I am doing today, I am not making a mistake and it’s not a guess work, it’s a well thought out plan.”
He praised the SDP governorship candidate, Engr Segun Oni, saying, “when Oni served as governor, Ekiti was better. He was paying salaries as and when due, he was humble and he carried everyone along unlike the current system where people of the state were subjected to hardship.”
Daramola further described Oni as a man of honour, a true leader who served with fairness and integrity, which was why he enjoys the massive support.
The former federal lawmaker said that “under the Ekiti APC-led government, I see many people suffering, there is hardship everywhere, insecurity, pensioners are crying for help, riding Okada is the only white collar job in Ekiti
“I’m not happy with the current situation in Ekiti. For these and many other reasons, I join SDP today to rescue Ekiti from the hands of people who doesn’t feel concerned about the wellbeing of  Ekiti people.
Meanwhile, Oni has promised the people of the state a robust security of lives and property, with an ultimate goal of zero crime rate in Ekiti if elected governor in the June 18 governorship election.
Oni stated this when a group of farmers in the state paid him a solidarity visit at Ifaki-Ekiti last weekend and pledged to support him to win the governorship election.
In a statement made available by Idowu Adelusi, the spokesman of Ekiti Build Back Better (EBBB), a pro-Segun Oni group, to journalists in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday, the leaders of the farmers, Chiefs Timothy Orilogbon and  Babatunde Ilori, said the purpose of their visit was to draw from him promises to tackle problem of insecurity which had driven them away from their farms.
Responding, Oni said he would put a stop to insecurity bedevilling the state, “even though Governor Kayode Fayemi, with his Phd in War Studies, failed woefully to tackle the problem.”
“I can assure everybody living in this state of a new dawn, if I am elected as governor of this state on June 18. A new dawn implied freedom for everybody to go about their lawful duties, freedom for the farmers to go about their farming activities without being attacked by killer herdsmen. 
“No longer will criminals come to kill you on your farms or destroy your crops or rape your wives and daughters. When I said something, I mean it; I will put a stop to the nonsense.”
To achieve this, Oni promised to centralise the intelligent security control system; apply local-intercommunity security such as the Amotekun and other local innovations.