Barring any last-minute changes, former Governor of Ekiti State Segun Oni is to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) soon, his political associate and Chairmanship aspirant, Chief Segun Akinwumi has said.

Oni left the PDP after the party primary in 2022 when he lost to the anointed candidate of Ex-governor Ayodele Fayose, Mr Bisi Kolawole. He alleged that the election was manipulated to favour Fayose’s candidate.

He later decamped to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) where he contested for the governorship election in June 2022 and came second after Governor Biodun Oyebanji, the then the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate who won the election.

Addressing newsmen in Ado Ekiti, Akinwumi said that Oni is merely waiting for an appropriate time after the PDP resolve the lingering crisis in the party before returning to the PDP as he does not want to get entangled in the crisis.

He also alleged that several aggrieved members of the ruling APC in Ekiti were already reaching out to him and expressing their desire to decamp to PDP because of their unjust treatment in their party.

Meanwhile, the Chairmanship hopeful has pledged to hand over PDP to original owners who have remained in the trenches due to the intractable crisis rocking the party, saying that he is the only aspirant that could do it.

The former commissioner also appealed to all the leaders of the party to mend fences in the interest of the electoral future party. He urged them to put aside primordial sentiment and put the PDP first.

“The PDP in Ekiti is currently in the doldrums and it must be pulled out of doldrums. Let the man who knows the way, pull it out. I am the preferred person to do the job. We are inching to the government house Oke Ayoba come 2026.”

Ahead of the party Congress, Akinwumi urged the National Working Committee (NWC) to ensure level playing field for all aspirants of the party, saying that is the only way to reposition PDP.