by Nurat Uthman
No fewer than a thousand members of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Ondo State have left the party for the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party.
This development occurred just two months before the governorship election in the state, in which 16 political parties will participate on 16th November 2024.
Receiving the defectors in Ore, the headquarters of Odigbo Local Government Area, on Sunday, the state Chairman of the Ondo PDP Campaign Council, Dr Eddy Olafeso, assured the new members that they would not face discrimination in their new party.
He said, “I want to thank you for coming in your thousands to the PDP, and I promise you that our party will never disappoint you or fall short of your expectations. Let us work together for the party’s victory in November.”
One of the defectors’ leaders, Yusuf Abdulateef, explained that he and his supporters made a bold decision to leave the APC due to “bad governance in Ondo State and Nigeria, which has only led to hunger, poverty, expensive petrol, and a lack of democratic principles and reward systems.”
“They tried to persuade us to stay in their party, offering millions of naira in recent days, but I resisted because I stand with the masses, and the masses are suffering under this bad governance in Ondo State. What is the point of taking their money while all my supporters, thousands of them, continue to live in poverty and hunger?”
“I refuse to go down that path. We believe that Agboola Ajayi, the PDP candidate, has the experience and credentials to steer Ondo State towards prosperity, which is why we decided to join him in the PDP so that together we can liberate Ondo State.”
During the defection ceremony, the PDP Campaign Council announced the appointment of Abdulateef as the Mobilisation Chairman for the council in the Ondo South Senatorial District.
