The former vice chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Alhaji Azeez Issa Adesiji on Monday said his resolve to dump the party for the Action Democratic Party (ADP) was attributable to impunity, injustice and abandonment of party members at the local government and ward level by its leadership.
This is coming barely 47 days to the conduct of September 22 governorship poll in Osun,
Adesiji had led other nine members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the APC, including their teeming members and supporters to defect to the ADP at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo, Osun State capital.
Other reasons listed by Adesiji for declaring for ADP, alongside 580 members of the executives of the APC at local government level out of 780 members include the running of the state as an output of another state.
According to Adesiji, “with the little aforementioned above, myself and others here present and many more of our followers at home have chosen the path of honour by resigning our membership from APC and informing the good people of Nigeria of our decision to move en masse into vibrant and dynamic ADP, in Osun State”.
“You know I am the mobiliser, I am moving more local government ward executives to ADP, I am not ready to dialogue with the APC again, the house has collapsed.
God hates injustice and us human being also hate injustice. We helped Aregbesola to unseat Oyinlola, we knew what we did then. Moshood Adeoti is the right man for Osun. You know what happened in Ekiti State, the power of incumbency does not work again, it is the will of the people that matter”, he asserted.
While welcoming the defectors, the state chairman of the ADP, Mr Toye Ola Akinola said “I am happy to receive the people of integrity to my party. More people are still coming.
We are welcoming more people and members of other parties are still coming. We would sensitise our people on our party logos and manifesto. With the support of the people, no power of incumbency can override our votes. We are going to win this coming governorship election.
Meanwhile, other former SWC members of the APC, who defected to ADP include Public Relations Officer (PRO) , Mr David Morakinyo Akintola, the state treasurer of the APC, Hon Segun Olanibi treasurer and Mr Karimu Sikiru, assistant treasurer, Mrs Ogundare Aina Funke, assistant Publicity secretary, Prince Ademola Bamidele, the auditor, Mr Oyewola Adunola, an ex-officio member and the assistant welfare secretary, Dr (Mrs) Monisola Idayat Bakare.
Reacting over the development, the director of publicity, research and strategy of the APC in Osun, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi the decampees’ reasons for dumping the ruling party was not convincing, stressing that “they think that by claiming they are leaving with so-called 6000 followers is going to make them the next government in Osun, they live in a fool’s paradise”.
In a press statement forwarded to our correspondent, he argued that “they underrated the issue involved in the next election. It is not about the individual, it is collective. And it is about the legacy of eight solid years of enviable achievements. If they don’t see anything good to defend in what has happened in the APC in the last eight years, too bad for the defectors”.
“Even their gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Adeoti admitted on radio this morning that even the blind could see the good work of Aregbesola. And we ask: ‘which party is best suited to continue with that good work? the answer surely is the APC and it has the capacity and capability in Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola, its candidate for the September 22 Guber election. We wish them all the luck they wish themselves, but we assure them that they will lose at the end of the game”, Oyatomi remarked
