All seems not to be well with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) family in Ogun State.
For over two weeks now, the party has been witnessing continuous defection of influential members to opposition parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Newsclick Nigeria reports that Adekunle Akinlade, a former governorship candidate in the state and core loyalist of the immediate past Governor, Sen Ibikunle Amosun had earlier defected to the PDP and had since picked the party’s deputy governorship ticket.
In the latest defection saga, some 234 former local government administrators in the state decided to pitch tent with the PDP.
The former Vice Chairmen, Councillors, and Secretaries to the Local Government (SLG) decamped from the ruling APC to team up with the opposition party.
They comprise 24 former Vice Chairmen of the local governments and LCDAs, 200 ex-local government legislators, and 10 former SLGs.
Receiving the defectors on Monday, the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun, Hon. Ladi Adebutu, assured them that they would be treated well as bona fide members of the PDP in Ogun.
According to Adebutu, the PDP would return power to the local governments if given the opportunity to take over governance in 2023.
He charged the former APC members to work assiduously towards sending out the APC, saying Ogun State must be brought back to the days of glory where people enjoyed peace, food security, good health, and infrastructural development among others.
Also, the deputy governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun, Hon Adekunle Akinlade, expressed confidence that the PDP would take over from the APC in the next election.
Akinlade maintained that the forces coming together are doing so to oust the ruling party and reset the Gateway State towards the right path.
In his words, the Chairman of the party, Hon. Sikirulahi Ogundele, welcomed the decampees to the PDP, telling them that they would not regret their decisions to do so.
He urged the people of Ogun State to get their Permanent Voter’s Card ready for the 2023 polls, saying “your votes cannot be stolen anymore.”
