Two former governors of Ekiti State, Chief Niyi Adebayo and Chief Segun Oni, were among the 62 leading members of the All Progressives Congress, who met in Abuja, on Tuesday, as part of the moves to reposition the state chapter of the party.
The four-hour-long meeting initiated by Oni, who is the APC deputy national vice-chairman (South), came up at the party’s national headquarters.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Adebayo, who was flanked by Oni, said the meeting was convened to reconcile members who had for one reason or the other left the party.
According to him, the meeting has provided the needed tonic for the state chapter of the party to reinvent and reposition itself towards providing leadership for the long-suffering people of the state.
Adebayo said, “We held a meeting of (APC) stakeholders of Ekiti State. We had issues with some of our members that left to go and contest the 2015 general elections on different political platforms.
“We have met today and I can say categorically that, finally, all the issues that separated us at the time have been resolved and we are one big happy family now.”
Responding to a question on the absence of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Adebayo explained that the minister had sent an apology over his absence.
Adebayo said that Fayemi was meeting with the members of the National Assembly with regard to issues bordering on the 2016 budget of his ministry.
Adebayo, who spoke on behalf of the stakeholders, also expressed displeasure over the state of affairs in Ekiti.
He noted that the Ayodele Fayose-led Peoples Democratic Party administration had turned Ekiti State into a pariah state, adding that the state’s airport project was not only a misplacement of priority, but a waste of scarce resources.
Speaking in a similar vein, a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, said the meeting provided an opportunity for the progressives in Ekiti State to come together and chart a new course for the state.
Bamidele said the meeting was not about any individual but about Ekiti, Nigeria and the kind of politics the state should all be playing.
He said the stakeholders were united in the quest to give Ekiti a better deal.