26 aggrieved Ogun Assembly candidates dump APC
• I am still in party but my loyalists in APM have my support, says Amosun
• Pledges to work towards Buhari’s re-election
The 26 aggrieved Ogun State House of Assembly candidates for the 2019 election elected through a parallel primary not recognised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership yesterday announced their defection to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Their spokesman, Mr. Lamidi Musafiu Olatunji, who addressed journalists in Abeokuta in the presence of his colleagues, directed their supporters and admirers to decamp en-masse to APM. Olatunji said: “We are determined to prevent this grand design to instal a government that would be answerable to foreign forces outside Ogun State.”
According to him, they took the decision after due consultation with “elders, stakeholders and other admirers.”“We are going to work tirelessly for the election of Adekunle Akinlade (Amosun’s preferred candidate),” he affirmed.They, however, pledged to work hard towards the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari, who they praised for “his efforts to sustain democracy, fairness and equity in resolving the crisis within the party.”
Meanwhile, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun yesterday said that he had given his full blessings to any of his supporters and loyalists who want to defect from the APC to the APM.
Amosun, who spoke while addressing a stakeholders’ meeting of the APC attended by his preferred governorship candidate and other party members in Abeokuta, said: “God will punish me if I stop them (defectors).”
The governor, who gave the assurance that he would remain in APC to contest his senatorial seat and work tirelessly to ensure the re-election of Buhari, urged all his loyalists and supporters to do same, pledging to use everything within his capacity to ensure the victory of aggrieved members at their new party and Akinlade, who the APM had already given automatic ticket for the governorship contest.He vowed to resist any rigging plan in the state and that he would not allow anyone to introduce violence to the electoral process in the state.
