No fewer than 25,000 members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday defected to Accord Party in Lagos State, stating that that they were aggrieved at the culture of impunity in the state chapter of the party which denied Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and many other aspirants a level playing field for the party’s tickets.
This is just as the aggrieved APC members immediately adopted governorship candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Jimi Agbaje, as their preferred candidate for the governorship polls.
The defectors, who came from the state’s 20 local governments at a well-attended ceremony which took place at Lagos Airport Hotel, cheered as the candidate of Accord Party, Engineer Joseph Ola Beckley said he was standing down for Agbaje in the governorship election. Witnesses to the carnival-like ceremony included Agbaje, his running mate, Mrs. Haleemat Oluwayemisi Busari, the recently defected former Lagos State Commissioner for Power, Mr. Wale Oluwo, a former Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Alhaji Rahman Owokoniran and the PDP Lagos Chairman, Dr. Adegbola Dominic.
The defectors, who described themselves as “Aggrieved Members of the APC” were led by a chieftain of the party, Mr. Sunday Ajayi.
Ajayi said they decided to dump APC for Accord Party due to widespread impunity perpetrated by the leadership of APC.
Addressing a crowd of faithful, including chieftains of the PDP and the Accord Party, Ajayi stated, “we, the leaders of the Aggrieved APC, have decided to bid bye-bye to the APC over the reign of impunity being carried out by the party in the state.”
Ajayi accused the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of committing gross impunity against membership through imposition of candidates on the APC, saying, the era of one-man rule in the state had gone.