Ondo 2020: ZLP leaders defect to APC

Ahead of the forthcoming governorship in Ondo State, no fewer than 2,500 members of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) across the 18 local government areas in the state, have decamped to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

The defectors who include the state ex-officio member, Rotimi Bowei; vice-chair, ZLP Ese-Odo, Mr Festus Gbasinghan; Success Digha; ward chairman, Arogbo 3; secretary, Ukparama 2, Eliphus Ibakedein of Arogbo ward 1 chairman, were led to APC by the former deputy state chairman of ZLP, Engr. Abayomi Adebayo.

Speaking on behalf of the defectors, Adebayo said the developmental projects of the present administration led by Rotimi Akeredolu endeared them to the APC.

He lamented that the dream of the deep seaport initiated by the late Olusegun Agagu administration would have come to reality but for the Mimiko administration that abandoned it for eight years.

According to him, Lagos State economic breakthrough was from the deep seaport which has sustained the economy of the state and improved its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) tremendously.

He said “I’m here with the executives of the ZLP, we are joining you after we took a cursory look at the economic situation of the state and we realized that there has been a gap created by the Mimiko administration which we were part of before.

“If the vision of Agagu has been achieved on the deep seaport, we won’t have the economic problem we are experiencing today. We refused to invest and that’s why we are very happy with you and your administration for what you are doing on the issue of the deep seaport.

“Lagos State lives on internally generated revenue. Majority of the IGR comes from the seaport. We have the deepest coastline the sizes of the ship here will be bigger than that of Lagos. If the vision of Agagu has been accomplished the road to Ore would have been six lanes by now.

“The state won’t be at this trouble if the right things have been done. You came and started afresh. That’s why we are partnering with you. The ZLP is joining the train to the future that doesn’t even concern you anyway. A time is coming that no state would be able to pay salary again. No one planned for corona. We are happy that you have decided to give us life in Ondo State.

“Those in ZLP Know that that have lost their engine room. We have decided that the entire structure is with you. And we are going to ensure that we add value to APC.

“We have not sat with you and ask how much are you giving us. We are driven by our conviction that you will perform and not our personal interest. With this our step, you will be challenged the more to do much better in your second term.”

Receiving them into APC fold, the state chairman, Hon. Ade Adetimehin who handed them over to the leader of the party in the state, said over sixty percent of the ZLP exec at the local government level have been harvested into the APC.

He disclosed that the local government leaders in Ondo East and Ondo West local government areas would soon collapse their structure and join the APC this weekend.

Responding, Governor Akeredolu assured that his administration will pursue the establishment of the deep seaport and actualize the dreams for the economic prosperity of the state.

“When I came and I started pursuing the seaport, my colleague governors were asking me what my predecessors were doing before. I didn’t lie.

“I told them that Agagu initiated the dream. It is deep. Mimiko abandoned Agagu’s project outrightly. Look at the University in Okitipupa, Agagu didn’t put it in his home town. Look at the University, if Mimiko had attended to it, it would be one of the best around by now.

“The government house chapel, we met it at foundation level, I completed it and invited Mimiko to come and do the commissioning. I put his name on it. I did that because he was the one that laid the foundation. That’s how the government is supposed to work. government is a continuum.

“If Mimiko had continued from where Agagu stopped on the seaport, by now, we would have seen progress. The seaport is not something that we can do overnight. I am very sure that with that port, our people can never suffer again.

“We are poised to build a modern port. It is a port that will serve West Africa. Our draught is the deepest in West Africa. It will usher in many abundant blessings. In the next four years, we will work more than we have worked now,” Akeredolu said.

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