Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
At least 5,000 members of All Progressives Congress (APC), Action Democratic Party (ADP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Thursday dumped their parties and defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State.
The defectors were led by a former chairman of the council, Elder Segun Olayiwola, into the PDP at the premises of the local government secretariat in Moniya, Ibadan.
PDP state chairman Alhaji Kunmi Mustapha led a high-powered delegation of state executive council of the party to Moniya to receive the defectors into the party.
Mustapha, who handed over the party’s flag to Olayiwola, commended him for returning to the PDP, saying the party would continue to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people, whilst urging the defectors to return to their wards for registration.
The brief ceremony was attended by the dignitaries that included the Caretaker Chairman of Akinyele Local Government, Taoreed Jimoh; Senior Special Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Kunle Yusuf; PDP Chairman Akinyele LG Otunba Badmus Adekola; PDP State Secretary Alhaji Wasiu Adeleke; state publicity secretary, Akeem Olatunji; and State PDP Youth Leader Asiwaju Adekola Adeoye.
Members of ADP that defected included the leaders of Olatoye Sugar Foundation, a foundation set up to promote the good works of a former member of the House of Representatives, Temitope Olatoye, who was shot dead on March 9, 2019, during the conduct of the last governorship election in the state while he was still serving as a member of the National Assembly, representing Akinyele/Lagelu Federal Constituency.
Olayiwola, who was one of the leaders in the APC in the council and a strong loyalist of a former governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, said he defected to PDP based on the excellent achievements of the state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde.
He stated that he became involved in politics because of good governance and that the Governor has been an exemplar of good governance in the state, adding that Makinde has disappointed the people who thought he would fail based on the fact that he came straight into governorship seat from the private sector.
Olayiwola explained that he has been in politics for up to three decades in the state and he and notable political leaders in the local government that passed through the school of politics of a former governor of the state, the late Chief Kolapo Ishola, who hailed from the local government, have been the ones determining the winners of any election the local government, regardless of their political affiliations.
He said he and more than 5,000 people that followed him to the PDP would work assiduously for the continuation of good governance in the state and the success of the party in the local government.