The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed concern other the defection of some top echelon of the party in Oyo State to the All Progressive Congress (APC), warning that they would regret the defection.
The former governor of Oyo state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala and the governorship candidate of PDP in the state in the 2015 general election, Senator Teslim Folarin at the weekend dumped the PDP and moved to APC in a very elaborate way as the event was attended by APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and governors of Oyo, Osun and Ondo, Mr Isiaka Ajimobi, Mr Rauf Aregbesola and Mr Rotimi Akeredolu.
Reacting to the development, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi in a press statement made available to Daily Trust in Osogbo yesterday declared that both Akala and Folarin would have realised their full potentials as politicians, if they had remained in PDP.
According to him, “It is a political miscalculation if our respected leaders are going to where they did not belong and could not learn from the experiences of ex-governor Rasheed Ladoja, Professor Taoheed Adedoja and other APC big wigs in Oyo State who recently retraced their ways back to PDP after being used and dumped by APC.”
The statement reads further: “Going by the experiences of many political heavyweights that have left its fold to join APC in the past, Akala and Folarin’s decision to join the party was nothing but a misstep, especially now that majority of Nigerians are waiting on the PDP to rescue them from the national calamity that befalls the nation owing to lack of capacity by the federal government to deal with myriad of challenges facing the country."
It added that "many politicians that left PDP for APC before 2015 general election are regretting their actions presently because the party demeaned them after riding on their support to secure power. Those still remaining in their fold are never considered as stakeholders in APC-led federal government."
Describing Akala and Folarin as PDP gifts to Nigerian, Odeyemi said "the two politicians have all to lose, and nothing to gain from the fast sinking ship of APC, adding that they cannot enjoy the kind of influence and privileges they had in PDP.
According to him, "Ex vice president Atiku Abubakar, Chief Rasidi Ladoja and a host of others have taken the route both Chief Akala and Senator Folarin set to thread and returned to PDP after being used and treated poorly by the APC.
"That is why we are calling on Akala and Folarin both of who are PDP gifts to Nigerians to have a rethink after Saturday’s show-off and make their way back to PDP fold where they can realise their full potentials especially now that Nigerians are waiting on our party to rescue them from the national calamity and lack of capacity APC had displayed at the centre."
"All elephants that have left PDP in the past have been made ants by APC and we don’t want both Akala and Folarin to experience same thing. That is why we are calling on them to have a rethink," Odeyemi said.
