Again the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lost a member to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the state’s gubernatorial election.
Reports reaching Tracknews confirmed that a former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, Kolapo Alimi on Wednesday dumped the broom camp to join forces with the PDP.
Recall that some APC members had during the weekend dumped the party and declared their allegiance to the PDP. They were received into the party at Ile-Ife on Saturday, Naija News understands.
The opposition party in the Ife zone said the defectors were led by Kayode Ogundele.
The latest development with the political swings in the Osun State is the defection of Alimi who is known to be one of the staunch supporters of the Minister of Interior and former governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola.
Alimi’s defection to PDP was confirmed today at the party’s secretariat in Osogbo. The politician had served as a two-term commissioner during Aregbesola’s administration, Tracknews understands.
He was also a staunch member of The Osun Progressives (TOP), a caucus within the chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), backed by Aregbesola.
Explaining why he dumped APC, Alimi who was given a warm welcome into the umbrella fold by the party’s governorship candidate in the state, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, Caretaker Chairman of the party, Dr Akintunde Akindele and other party stakeholders, said he suffered marginalisation in the former camp.
Although he said that Aregbesola could not leave APC because of his stake in it, the former commissioner, however, stated that he decided to dump the party because he could no longer withstand the maltreatment allegedly being meted out to him and others.
He said: “We cried out to so many times without any solution. You know Aregbesola himself is a bigwig in APC. He cannot leave the party, but to some of us who can no longer withstand the heat that the state government is turning on us, we have to move out.”
Alimi appealed to his followers and the good citizens of the state to come out en masse to vote for Adeleke in the July 16 governorship election.
In his remarks, Adeleke said Alimi’s defection to PDP would boost the chances of the party in the election. The governorship candidate expressed confidence that he would win the election in a free and fair atmosphere.
