A serving member of the House of Representatives, two former House of Representatives members under the Accord and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a PDP gubernatorial aspirant, a PDP Women leader, former local government chairmen of the PDP and thousands of their supporters yesterday joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, claiming that their future political destinies would be better served under the party.
They are Honourable Afeez Jimoh, Folake Olunloyo-Osinowo, Tayo Sarumi, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan, Chief (Mrs) Ayoka Lawani, Mr. Waheed Adeleke, former Chairman, Iseyin Local Government, among other party leaders from the Accord, Labour Party and PDP who joined the APC.
They joined the party at an event held at the Mapo Hall in Ibadan on Wednesday.
The decampees were received by Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, his counterpart from Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who represented the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari and the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
In their separate remarks, the decampees said they were leaving their respective parties for the APC because they discovered that only the APC held hope for the country and the state in particular.
In her own remark, Hon Olunloyo-Osinowo said all the members of the PDP in Ibadan South West and Ibadan North West constituency had decamped to the APC, stating that they identified with progressive ideology and believed that only the party would take the country to the promised land.
“God has deserted PDP and Nigerians have rejected it. That was why we left the party. The APC remains the only party that can take Nigeria to her land of destiny,” she said.
Another former PDP member of the House of Representatives and now a chieftain of the Accord Party, Hon. Sarumi said that his former party had become a sinking ship that would meet its final waterloo at the governorship polls on Saturday, urging other members of the party to leave the Accord before it is too late.
While speaking, former governorship aspirant, Dr. Adeduntan urged the Accord governorship candidate, Senator Ladoja to prepare for the Olubadan stool as he would be retired finally from politics on Saturday, urging former governor Akala to also prepare for his retirement from politics.
On her own part, Mrs. Lawani said that she left the PDP because of the sterling performance of the APC-led government in the state, saying that she believed that the APC occupying the centre in Abuja would bring quicker development to Oyo State.
Receiving the decampees, Governor Aregbesola, who said the President-elect and other leaders of the party could not attend the event due to other party engagements, said that they sent their appreciation of the massive votes that the people of the state gave the APC in the presidential/National Assembly elections.
He congratulated the decampees for heeding the clarion call to move with the tide of progressive politics, stating that it was the path to Nigeria’s greatness.
Aregbesola called on the state electorate not to identify with the people he called “emergency progressives” whom he said wanted to reap where they did not sow, saying that it had shown that they were fake.
In his own remarks, Governor Ajimobi congratulated the decampees, stating that by their action, what he called “the sore thumb of Oyo politics” had been decapitated.
Ajimobi used the opportunity to debunk what he called “the sinister rumour” going round that immediately he is re-elected, he would increase hotel tariffs and taxes generally in the state, stating that it was not only wicked but untrue.
H commended the decampees for their right decision at the right time, saying that now that the APC was at the federal level, the number of benefits that will accrue to the people of the state was innumerable.
He promised that the old members as well as the decampees would benefit from government accordingly, urging the electorate not to vote for a party that did not have roots, alluding to the loss of the PDP and Labour Party in the presidential and National Assembly elections.
Others who attended the ceremony were the Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, Mrs. Abiola Ajimobi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, all Senators-elect, House of Representatives-elect and many others.