Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Ali Olanusi and his supporters on Thursday defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The defection is coming barely 48 hours to the presidential election in Nigeria.
Olanusi’s Chief Press Secretary, Daisi Ajayi, confirmed this to journalists . Also Olanusi announced his defection in a press statement. Hear him.
“In the unfolding development in our country today and in Ondo state in particular, it is increasingly clear that I need to chart a new course for majority of my followers who looked up to me for direction and leadership and who watched helplessly in the last six years the untold marginalisation and total exclusion from the government they laboured to put in place.
“While still in place as the democratically Deputy Governor of Ondo State, I have decided to lead my teeming supporters and well-wishers in the state into All Progressives Congress, APC, where we can find fairness, justice, equity and democratic liberty to which majority of our kith and kins in Yorubaland belong.
“I have taken this decision at this crucial time in the best interest of peace, stability and good governance of our dear state and overall development of the South-west and the nation,” his statement read.
It was learnt that Olanusi and others in government of Olusegun Mimiko in the state had not been comfortable with the governor’s move from the Labour Party to the PDP.
Olanusi was the chairman of the PDP in the state before Mimiko convinced him to leave the party and become his deputy. This had resulted in a major crisis in the PDP in the state then.
A chieftain of the APC in the state told Huhuonline.com that the Deputy Governor had informed them he would be with them later Thursday to formalise his membership of the party.
“You know I am not in the position to officially speak, but we are already mobilising to receive the Deputy Governor and supporters.
“The news of his defection is already spreading like wild-fire across the state and unfortunately, the governor, Segun Mimiko, is not even in the state currently. He’s been campaigning with Jonathan,” the source said.
While calling the PDP a sinking ship in the South-western part of the country, he further disclosed that other members of the Ondo State government would soon join the fold.
