The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oyo State chapter, yesterday, asked the state’s deputy governor, Rauf Olaniyan, to resign immediately, having abandoned the party and the votes that produced him on the party’s joint ticket.

This statement followed Olaniyan’s defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday. The state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Akeem Olatunji, in a statement, noted that the PDP leadership in the state, South-West region and national levels all intervened at different intervals to resolve the situation fuelling the suspected defection plan but to no avail.

The PDP, therefore, warned against any attempt by Olaniyan and his new party to steal Oyo people’s mandate through the backdoor after the APC was utterly rejected at the 2019 governorship polls.

The PDP, which cautioned against what it called selfish motivation, said it was disappointed by comments credited to the deputy governor after officially announcing his defection from the PDP to the APC that even though he has left PDP, he still remains the deputy governor.

It noted that such move amounts to daylight robbery of the people’s mandate.

The party said Olaniyan should not pretend not to know what is right to do after leaving the political platform that sponsored him and Makinde on the joint ticket if truly he has any atom of the Yoruba ‘Omoluabi’ toga he always ascribed to himself.

“Oyo people did not vote for a PDP/APC joint ticket, they voted entirely for a PDP mandate.

“It is only when you contest for election as an independent candidate and wins and then decides to move to any political party of your choice that you become the owner of the votes cast by the electorate. Unfortunately, that is not for Olaniyan who wants to have his cake and still eat it.

“The Oyo PDP, which is the rightful owner of the mandate, will retrieve it using every available legal means if Olaniyan fails to humbly resign as a gentleman with his new move.

“Our position is simple and very clear on this matter and as a matter of legal implication, the votes in any election in Nigeria are to political parties, and not candidates. It is on this note that the PDP as the ruling party in the state is advising the Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan, not to be carried away by the lies and deceits told him by a political neophyte or be bamboozled into self-delusion of thinking he can be used as a tool to steal Oyo people’s mandate through the backdoor,” the PDP stated.