Leader of the People’s
Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo State are divided over the purported 60/40
agreement reached in favour of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State with the
national leaders of PDP in Abuja without the input of the state chapter, paving
way for Mimiko’s defection to the party.
This is as the All
Progressives Congress, APC, in the state said the defection was a minus to PDP.
Several meetings have been
held by PDP members and more still ongoing at the time of this report in the
state since the weekend defection became public.
Political appointees in the
former Labour Party, LP administration have however started crossing to PDP in
their constituencies across the state following a directive by the governor,
who also asked them to pass the message of defection down to the grassroots.
Many of the LP members, who
left the PDP in 2009 still have their PDP registration cards with them.
However, chieftains of
party told Vanguard in confidence that the governor failed to carry them along
at the state level along.
They lamented that the
governor preferred to talk with the leaders in Abuja instead of those in the
state, wondering how it would be that easy for him to sail through. They
lamented that they read about the defection on pages of newspapers.
Some of them claimed the
governor started calling them on phone just this weekend booking a meeting with
them.
However, other leaders who
have sympathy for him welcomed him to party, says the more, the merrier.
It was gathered that
leaders complaining are disturbed that as the governor, he automatically
becomes the leader of the party in the state, expressing fears that many of
them who had criticised him(Mimiko) when
he was in LP, are now afraid that he may victimise them now that he has taken
control of the party.
But the Publicity Secretary
of PDP in the state, Chief Wale Ozogoro, said the LP members were welcome into
the ‘biggest party in Africa.’
Ozogoro, who said although
the party had not been formally notified at the state level, noted that “there
is free entry and exit in political parties in the country and nobody has the
right to block Mimiko’s entrance into the party.”
However, he declared that
the new defectors would be trained on PDP’s philosophy based on the
Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said “by the time the
party is officially informed, we will meet with the party elders’ caucus and
with the incoming members and we will give them a rousing welcome.”
Some leaders of the PDP in
the state led by Professor Olu Agbi and Chief Segun Adegoke, said the defection
of Mimiko into the PDP justified their support for his second term election.
Agbi and Adegoke said by
the time the two major parties merged, the next election would be a free ride
for the party and its candidates.
Meanwhile, the state All
Progressives Congress, APC, in its reaction to the development said “the
defection of the Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko to the PDP did not
come as a surprise to us. Mimiko has been hobnobbing with the PDP at the
national level for a very long time, even though he had no good relationship
with the state chapter.”
A statement by its
Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya in Akure said “that Dr Olusegun Mimiko is
joining or has joined PDP will not help the party win any election, but to help
President Goodluck Jonathan win the PDP presidential primaries.
”To us in Ondo APC, our
doors are open for credible individuals that are still in the Labour Party,
especially the House of Assembly members to join. Our doors are also open to
the serving commissioners and also PDP members that would not be comfortable
with Mimiko joining the PDP because of his political antecedents. They are all
welcomed to join our great party to realise their dreams. To us all animals are
equal.”
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