The leadership of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Ondo State says it attention has been drawn to a purported defection of some of its members to a relatively unknown and newly introduced party, Action Peoples Party (APP) as being circulated by the chairman of the Party in the media.
It added that such development is untrue and urged the general public to disregard it as a mere propaganda by a desperate party.
UPN through its secretary, Jide Fatunla in a statement in Akure said:
“Ordinarily, the Unity Party of Nigeria would have treated the News as unworthy of our reaction but to set the records straight and assure our teeming members across the state that the cohesion in the Party still subsists and remain not threatened.
“Only two of the reported defectors were members of UPN until they were expelled from the Party having been indicted for insubordination and anti-Party activities by the Disciplinary committee set up to investigate the allegations against them and found guilty of same and consequently recommended their expulsion from the Party.
“The recommendation of the Disciplinary committee was adopted at the State Executive Committee meeting held on Wednesday 17th June 2020 leading to the formal expulsion of the duo. Less than 24 hours after their expulsion from Unity Party of Nigeria they hurriedly embarked in the purported defection to save their faces.
“One of their nefarious activities that led to their expulsion was that they constituted themselves into a group transversing one Party to the other for patronage behind the leadership of the Party. One of the Parties visited was the All Progressives Congress (APC) which pointedly doubted their genuineness and contacted the Party to confirm the position presented by the Group insisting they must present evidence of the approval of the UPN leadership for the requested collaboration before the matter could be discussed further.
“The other two or three members of the group who claimed to be our members are not card-carrying members of our Party and therefore unknown to us. They are merely political jobbers and can be described as gainsayers – disagreeable persons, who serious and sincere political players should avoid like a plaque.
“To expose the deceit inherent in the claims that more than 2,000 members of UPN have defected to the APP, only 5 persons (including the leadership of APP) were captured on the defection ceremony. Where were the other 2000 supposed defectors?
“We however wish to seize this opportunity to call on serious-minded political leaders in Ondo State to be wary of intrigues and nefarious activities and shenanigans of such charlatans who lack integrity and are out to feather their individual nests with filthy lucre to court underserved attention and prominence.
“Unity Party of Nigeria remains a strong political organization that is poised for the promotion of an egalitarian society in collaboration with other progressive forces in Ondo State and Nigeria as a whole”, the statement read.
Mr Jide Fatunla
State Secretary,
Unity Party of Nigeria.
Ondo State.
Study @ Achievers University
