Former PDP Legal Adviser, Oke, Ogunniya, Others Defect to APC

PDP: Oke made a mistake

James Sowole The former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusola Oke, a and three-time senator of Ondo Central, Gbenga Ogunniya, yesterday led some other leaders and their supporters to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Those who dumped the PDP yesterday with Oke were mainly from the Ondo South senatorial district, where the party won a senatorial seat and three House of Representatives seats.

Ogunniya, who is an indigene of Ondo Town with Mimiko, was said to be one of the leaders of the chieftains who worked for the success of Mimiko in the 2012 gubernatorial election.

Other notable leaders of the PDP who defected with Oke are the former Commissioner for Agriculture during the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu’s tenure, Ayo Ifayefunmi, a serving House of Representatives member for Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency; Albert Akintoye, Mr Abaymi Sheba, Princess Oladunni Odu, among others.

Addressing the APC leaders and members who gathered for the event which took place at the party secretariat, Oke said he and others joined the party not because the PDP lost the presidential election but because of the wind of change blowing across Nigeria which must not exclude Ondo State.

Oke, who said he had remained in the PDP for over 15 years, said he had resisted the wind of change until he was about to be blown away by the wind.

While saluting the courage of the APC members to withstand what he described as intimidation, Oke said he came to the party along with others to add value and not to change anything or to cause problem.

He said the ‘Rescue Mission’ which he tagged his campaign in the 2012 election would be realised under the APC platform because Ondo State needs to be rescued.

The PDP candidate for 2012 governorship election highlighted some of those things he said had gone wrong with the state, saying the state had been suffering from misplaced priorities.

Oke said the change that Nigeria was looking for came on March 28 adding that the real change that Ondo State needs would come on April 11.

He promised to work with the other party members and leaders to ensure total victory for the party in the forthcoming election.

“This is re-unification of brothers and sisters who had been together over time. We have resolved to fight against corruption, against wastage of our resources and against impunity,” he said.

Receiving the defectors, the APC state Chairman, Mr. Isaac Kekemeke, expressed delight that Oke and others are joining the party to rescue the state.

He said the defection of Oke came few days after an accord was signed at the Igbotako home of Jimoh Ibrahim that old PDP members should work for APC on April 11.

Kekemeke said with the performance of the APC on March 28 presidential election, the party will be expecting nothing less than 90 per cent on Saturday with the cooperation of Oke and his team.

He said the APC would accord Oke the respect of a party leader, adding the party cannot give him less than what he was before joining the party.

However, Kekemeke advised Oke and his team to respect those who should be respected for the party to witness the desired development.

Meanwhile, the state chapter of the PDP has described Oke’s defection as a “descent to shame.”

The PDP in a statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Ayo Fadaka, said the route that Oke took was not the right one.

“We note with aghast the decampment of Oke from our party to the APC, to us it is a route that Oke should not in any circumstance embark upon but since he in company of his little band have chosen to so do, they are, welcome to it.

“We equally feel duty bound to declare that we are disappointed that a man who operated as a major stakeholder in our Party could curiously elect to become a common joiner in a party, though currently in ascendancy, but whose future is certainly not secured as it is embedded with land mines that will implode in the nearest future.

“We are however cock sure that Oke has made a short sighted political mistake which will definitely be a setback to his political profile,” Fadaka said.

Also reacting to the defection of Oke, the national coordinator of a group within PDP, G- 18 Initiatives, Biyi Poroye, described the defectors as bunch of leaders with no integrity who have been working against the party in the state.

He noted that most of the leaders who left for APC were in the fore front of condemning the change revolution but turned to embrace the party saying “they’ve all soiled their integrity.”

He called on the people of the state to vote development by voting for PDP during the Saturday election and urged the leadership of the party in the state not to be disturbed with the development.