Lagos PDP Spokesman, ex-deputy governorship candidate, others join APC
The deputy governorship candidate of the Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 general elections, Safurat Abdulkareem, former Deputy State Chairman, Chief Ola Apena, and the State Publicity Secretary, Mr Hakeem Amode have officially defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
They made their defection known at a press conference held at the secretariat of the Lagos4Lagos Movement in Ikeja on Monday.
Western Post had exclusively reported that a former PDP deputy governorship candidate, Spokesman of the Lagos PDP and the former House of Assembly candidates in 2023 would be defecting to the APC on Monday (Today).
Amode, along with other PDP chieftains announced their defection at a news conference on Monday in Ikeja, Lagos.
He disclosed that he and other defectors were motivated and inspired by the visionary leadership of the 2023 PDP governorship candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, who had earlier moved to the APC.
“It is with great honour and a profound sense of responsibility that we stand before you today to announce a pivotal decision; one that marks a significant turning point not just for us as individuals, but for many committed political stakeholders who have journeyed with us over the years.
“Today, we have decided to collapse the entire PDP structure in Lagos State, from ward to the state level , to allign with His Excellency Jandor to decamp en masse to the APC. The PDP, both at the national and state levels, has lost its way. The party has deviated from the founding ideals that once made it the largest and most respected political platform in Africa”.
Safurat Abdulkareem, a two-time State PDP deputy governorship candidate, said that the defectors were determined to follow the progressives to make the state better.
Also speaking, a former state PDP Deputy Chairman, Chief Ola Apena, said the PDP had no relevance in the state anymore.
“The PDP is dead. There is no more PDP. The party is in complete limbo and we don’t know whether it will be up,” he said.
Other PDP leaders, who dumped the party for the APC included Prince Rufus Adeniyi, a former PDP Assistant State Organising Secretary (Lagos West) and Mr Jerry Afemikhe (Olori Odo), a former PDP House of Representatives Candidate in Surulere Constituency I.
Some 2023 PDP Lagos State House of Assembly candidates who dumped the party included Messrs Keshinro Abiodun (Epe 1);Akeem Jinadu, (Eti-Osa 1); Ibrahim Balogun (Kosofe 2).
Messrs Taofeek Obanikoro (Lagos Island 1); Tunde Pratt (Lagos Mainland 2); Saheed Aregbesola (Oshodi-Isolo State 2), Sulaimon Thompson (Surulere 1)and Taofeek Kuye ( Ajeromi-Ifelodun State 1) also dumped PDP for APC.
