Mohammed Oluwatimileyin Taoheed reports,
TrackNews Nigeria has learnt that eight members of the Oyo State House of Assembly elected under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are ready to leave the ruling party.
It was gathered that the lawmakers and some leaders of the party in the SouthWest state had concluded plans to decamp the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Recall that Oyo State Deputy Governor Rauf Olaniyan had recently dumped the PDP for the APC after falling out with the Governor but Makinde, who has been seeking reelection in 2023, failed to pick Olaniyan as his running mate.
He told our correspondent that the defection was because the state lawmakers were not given the PDP’s ticket to contest the 2023 elections.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyorchia Ayu, and the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, have been condemned for shunning the party’s campaign in Ekiti.
Some stakeholders in the party believe their decision caused the gubernatorial candidate of the party, Bisi Kolawole, his victory in the just-concluded elections.
A former National Publicity Secretary of the party, Diran Odeyemi, in an interview with TrackNews Nigeria, stated Ayu and Atiku’s absence have a hand in PDP’s loss of the election.
Odeyemi said, “Atiku, Ayu, and PDP governors left the people of Ekiti, the majority of whom supported PDP in the cold. They looked up to these personalities, but they never showed up before or during the poll.
“The National Campaign Council constituted by Ayu was put in place just four days before the poll, whereas Senator Bola Tinubu was in Ekiti with many APC governors, campaigning for Biodun Oyebanji.
“Now that the chances of PDP winning Ekiti have been thrown out by the Ayu-led national leadership, we need to remind Atiku, Ayu, and other today’s leaders of the PDP that the fate of our party in the 2023 election now rests on the outcome of Osun State governorship poll.”
