The only Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member in the last Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr. Samuel Ajinola Oyedele, has defected to the All Progressives Party (APC) in a ceremony held at his Omuo community in Ekiti East Local Government Area of the state.
Ajibola told the Nigerian Tribune in an interview that his choice to dump the PDP was because of the failure in the promises made by the leaders of the party in the state, especially Governor Ayodele Fayose, to the people of the during electioneering campaign.
He said: “I defected to APC because as a member of PDP, who was the last person with the PDP, we assumed during the electioneering campaign that Governor Fayose was a changed person but I want to say that he is not and my style of politics cannot work with his.
“I’m a realist who believes in fulfilling promises. 85 per cent of Ekiti civil servants are against the PDP now because the government has failed to pay salaries. We are having a CEO instead of a governor, everything stops at his table instead of separation of powers. He has failed in all his political pledge and promises.
“Secondly, I cannot stand his attitude and the way he addresses issues. I weighed all my options and saw that the APC is best for me given the current political falsities.”
He said on the occasion of his formal defection at the Omuo garage, “we came out with about 500 supporters for the official defection, but many people that ought to have come out are still hanging in there in the party, saying they want to earn their reward for their labour in the party before leaving.”
On his chances of realising his political dreams in the APC, he said “the reality is that I don’t see APC as a cult the people are saying about,” and explained that “it is a conglomeration of different political parties and the different ideas coalesce to bring about the promises of the party.”
He said he had “found that it is still the same dynamism that one needs to succeed in politics, the political party notwithstanding” and that “if you marshall your ideas properly, you get good results.”
Reacting to losing a prominent, grassroots member, the secretary of PDP in Ekiti State, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, wished Ajibola good luck in his new political party, saying “if that’s where he would find peace, we wish him goo luck.”
Adebayo, while reacting to his allegations of the party’s failed promises and lack of separation of powers, said “such allegations from someone who worked hard for the party’s victory and was given an appointment in the government, is a misnomer and we would take it as a rumour.”
According to Adebayo, “as far we are concerned, he left because of paucity of funds that has been an issue with the state government and it’s various organs, because that was the lone reason he cited in the letter of resignation he wrote.”
Ajibola had resigned his appointment in Fayose’s government as the Special Assistant on Parliamentary Affairs on May 31, 2016 and cited poor remuneration as his reason for resigning from the government.
In the resignation letter dated May 29, 2016, Ajibola had said: “As SAPA, the governor pays me N220,000 and I’m a grassroots politician which the Governor himself knows what it means. Also I have one of my children currently serving and two others in the university. How do I cope? My constituency is also of high hope that they have a son in the Fayose cabinet.”
In the letterhead submitted to the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Modupe Alade, Ajibola had said: “Sir, within my personal conviction, I am satisfied that I have in all honesty and utmost loyalty served the PDP, the people of EKiti and government in general. Therefore, am premising my resignation on some basic developmental issues and the economic situation in the state which I cannot continue to pretend over.”