The gale of defection sweeping through opposition parties in Nigeria has reached Ondo state with top PDP and ZLP members switching allegiance to the APC.
Some of the decampees are former deputy National Youth Leader of PDP and former Executive Chairman of Ose local government, Arole Dennis Alonge-Niyi; Former Executive Chairman of Akoko SouthEast Local Government Council, Hon Akin Aibinuomo; Former Financier and Leader of PDP in Irele Local Government Area, Prince Thompson Atayase; Alhaji Ilesanmi Jamiu, Chief Aladejebi among others.
Receiving the defectors at the APC newly renovated building in Akure, the state capital on Friday, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said he is glad to receive the defectors into the party.
Akeredolu who said he had one point in time had course to relate with the defectors, said he bore no grudges against anyone, adding that they should not go back to the wilderness again.
“I want to plead with our party leaders, we must not discriminate. They have become members of our party and we must only integrate them. Let us find a way to accommodate them so they will feel integrated. No founder, no joiner”, Akeredolu said.
Akeredolu Loves Ondo State More Than Himself.
The acting Chairman, Engr. Ade Adetimehin, earlier disclosed that the APC remained the party to beat in the state, noting that Governor Akeredolu has turned the fortune of the party around for good.
Adetimehin said Akeredolu loves the state more than himself, hence, the radical developmental strides that have dotted the state in the last four years.
“Governor Akeredolu has turned the fortune of this state around. He has turned this state into an industrial hub. Before his arrival, the state was a civil servant state. Look at the industries at the Ore Industrial Hub. Since he came on board, he has constructed over 400 kilometers of roads. My town, Idanre, benefitted from such gesture.
“Since Ose Local Government Area was created, no General hospital, but today, there is a very big and standard hospital there. We also have the ongoing 500-bed Hospital complex each at Ondo and Akure Teaching Hospitals. In Ore today, there is a new flyover. In Ikare, there is Oke Alabojuto that has been subdued and no longer cause Truck accident. In Ondo State history, there is no road network in Gaga community in Akure, today that community is connected.
“Ondo state is the only state in Nigeria that is having three universities standing. Before he assumed office, in the whole Southwest, Ondo state is the only state without a teaching hospital. Today, he’s building two giant teaching hospitals. He has made his marks.”
Adetimehin reminded the new defectors that APC has not lost any of his active members to the opposition since the Akeredolu government came on board, adding that they now have a party to be proud of.
In their separate remarks, the defectors said they were attracted into the party by the outstanding achievements of the Governor.
I don’t want PDP to take my life – Dennis Alonge-Niyi
Alonge-Niyi who was first to speak said he is always guided by the philosophy of one of his friends that when you “enter a party as a millionaire and you are becoming wretched, such party will soon take your life.”
He said he and other defectors are not coming to the APC to be given any special attention but that they are in APC only to be recognized.
“Your (Akeredolu) agenda appealed to us. You came in when the revenue coming to the state is meagre. We have seen what you have been able to do in transforming the nooks and crannies of the state.
“We see your agenda as agenda that unite the people of Ondo state. You have a general agenda for the overall well-being of the people of the state. I mentioned the quality of your work in Ondo State. These are our attestation to the quality of your leadership.
“You know where we are coming from. And that’s the PDP. It has raised some of us from the state to national level. It is unfortunate that today, the vulture has taken over the party. We have looked round and the redemption is not coming so soon.
“Not with the type of the intimidating achievements you have recorded in Ondo State. Our hope is not in the tribunal, our hope is in you.
Ex Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo; Women Leader, Morenike Witherspoon; Rasak Isijola; Chairman Governing Councilor of Zamfara Federal Poly, Omowunmi Olatunji-Ohwovoriole, were among APC bigwigs that graced the event.
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