100 APC members decamp to PDP in Ekiti

The camp of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State increased as 100 members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) defected to the party ahead of the July 14 governorship election in the state.

The over hundred members of the APC who defected are from Ayetoro-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Council of the state.One of the defectors, a former Deputy Chairman of APC, Mr. James Afolabi, told newsmen that he left the party with his followers because of lack of internal democracy in the APC.

Afolabi further said that he joined the PDP because he would be treated fairly and justly unlike his former party where such principles were seriously lacking.Another defector, Oluwole Gbenga, said that he was leaving the APC for PDP because of developmental projects embarked upon by the present administration in the state as well as its people-oriented agenda.

Other defectors included a traditional ruler of the town, Chief Joseph Olaiya, the Obanla of Ayetoro-Ekiti.The traditional ruler, who spoke with newsmen shortly after he defected, said that the Ayodele Fayose administration’s developmental initiative in the state has been a source of inspiration to him.“I’m defecting because I have seen the efforts of the PDP. The purposeful governance the PDP is giving the state is one of the factors that enticed me to the party.”

Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing the area in the House of Assembly, Jeje Samuel Abiola, who welcomed the new members, said that the defectors were thrilled by the good works of Fayose’s administration in the state, noting that the defectors voluntarily left their former party to join the moving train of the PDP.He lauded the step taken by new members of the party, promising that they would be accorded all rights and privileges derived by old members of the party.

Also, the Deputy Governor of the state, Kolapo Olusola, who received the defectors on behalf of the leadership of the party in the state, pointed out that there’s no sentiment in the party, adding that the defectors would be adopted into the party and they would be accorded the rights and privileges the old members of the party are benefiting.