• We can’t stop politicians from joining APC, says Morka

Former deputy governor in Ondo State, and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2024 gubernatorial election in the state, Agboola Ajayi, has dumped the opposition party for his former party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Amid the gale of defections, the APC said it could not prevent politicians from defecting to its fold, describing the recent wave of defections as a reflection of confidence in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

On his decision to rejoin APC, Ajayi disclosed that the move was driven by the need to add value to the party and to support Tinubu’s re-election bid.

Ajayi, who spoke in Igbekebo, Ese-Odo Local Council of the state, said the exercise formally affirmed his membership of the APC and would enable him to participate fully in the party’s activities.

The former federal lawmaker had, in June 2020, resigned his membership of the APC and defected to PDP, citing irreconcilable differences between him and the late Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, under whom he served as deputy.

Meanwhile, Ajayi noted that rejoining the APC along with his loyalists would, in no small measure, strengthen his support for the administration of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as well as the Renewed Hope Agenda of Tinubu.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, during an interview on Arise Television yesterday, said governors defecting to the ruling party were aligning themselves with a “resurging Nigeria” under the Tinubu administration.

“What you see is governors who have decided to join our party to identify with this resurging Nigeria that this President is clearly positioning Nigeria to be,” he said.  He added that the APC welcomed new members and would not act as a barrier to politicians seeking to join the party.

“We are happy and excited about people joining our party. We cannot be gatekeepers to filter out people who want to join our camp. We don’t do that because it is undemocratic,” Morka said.

Addressing fears that the defections could lead to a one-party state, the APC spokesperson dismissed such concerns, arguing that Nigeria had experienced similar political dominance in the past without undermining democracy.