…says defectors never committed members of main opposition party
A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, who is also the Convener, Reset Lagos PDP, has reacted to the defection of some exco members of the party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, saying that it was a joke for anyone to believe that the whole structure of Lagos PDP collapsed because of such development that should not give any headache.
It would be recalled that some members of the State Executive Council (SEC) of the Lagos State chapter of the PDP led by its spokesperson, Hon. Hakeem Amode, and some of the party candidates in the last general elections on Monday dumped PDP for APC, at a ceremony which took place in Ikeja, where the Lead Visioner of the Lagos4Lagos Movement, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as JANDOR, handed them the party flag, while welcoming them.
The defectors, among whom were former Deputy Governorship Candidate of PDP, Alhaja Safurat Abdulkareem; former Deputy Chairman of the party, Chief Ola Apena; former Assistant State Organizing Secretary (Lagos West), Prince Rufus Ademola Adeniyi and former House of Representatives Candidate, Surulere Constituency, Hon. Jerry Afemikhe, said they had, with the move taken by them, collapsed the entire PDP state executive to join JANDOR in APC.
Recall also that JANDOR was the Governorship Candidate of PDP for the 2023 General Election before he dumped it in March and returned to the ruling APC.
Pearse gave this position in a statement, copy of which was available to Tribune Online on Tuesday, maintaining that the defection from PDP to APC should not give any headache, just as he noted that the affected people were JANDOR’s supporters “who waited behind when JANDOR announced his own defection earlier in the year.”
According to him, the defectors had never been with the main opposition party since JANDOR allegedly came to organize its destruction from within, adding: “They have now decided to make their position public.”
“This wave of defection from PDP to APC in Lagos should not give any headache.
These people are Jandor’s supporters who waited behind when Jandor announced his own defection earlier in the year.
“They have now decided to make their position public. They have not been with PDP since Jandor came into the party to organize its destruction from within,” he said.
This was just as the PDP chieftain quickly noted the influence of JANDOR and his group in PDP, saying such “can be evaluated by their calamitous performance in the 2023 Governorship Election.
“What power does JANDOR and his supporters have when they were able to muster only 5% in an election?” Pearse queried.
“For anyone to believe that the whole structure of Lagos PDP collapsed because they defected to APC is a joke. At best we can agree that 5% of the most treacherous and unreliable elements in PDP has left the party,” he said.
Pearse, who is also a public affairs analyst, pointedly declared that the defectors were no longer a problem for PDP, saying that it was better that they “have reveal themselves now, before the 2027 elections.
“In fact, my prediction is that JANDOR and his band of shifty politicians are likely to fast-track APC’s downfall in Lagos State.
“Traitors will always be traitors. As the saying goes, ‘A leopard cannot change its skin.’ By leaving the PDP, these political scavengers are inadvertently helping the PDP to clean house in preparation for 2027!” he concluded.
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