By: Bola Ojuola, Akure.
Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress and former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the National Secretary of the party, Rauf Aregbesola, were in Akure on Thursday to formally welcome Eyitayo Jegede, a former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, to the ADC in Ondo State.
Jegede, a former Attorney General of the state, had twice sought to be governor of the state under the umbrella of the PDP but, without success, had earlier resigned from the PDP to pursue his political ambition on a new platform.
Jegede did not move out of the PDP alone; those who followed him included a former Board of Trustees (BOT) member, Segun Adegoke, incumbent chairmen of the party in Ondo West and Owo Local Government areas of the state, former political office holders and lawmakers.
During the reception, Jegede said he decided to join the ADC with his supporters to rescue the state from the claws of the ruling APC.
He advised people to obtain their voters’ cards and vote for the candidates of the ADC in all elections coming up next year.
Mr Aregbesola, who is a former Governor of Osun State, urged members of the ADC in the state to mobilise their supporters to vote for the ADC presidential candidate and other candidates.
Atiku, in his own contribution, encouraged voters to come together to vote out the APC and its presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in light of the current hardship now being faced by the majority of Nigerians.
“We are not here to campaign but to welcome our brother to ADC. When we come back, we will tell you what we have for you and your generation to come, and we have been doing that. We are going to restore the subsidy,” he said.
“Secondly, we are committed to restoring security all over this country. No part of this country will feel insecure anymore. Of course, you know what we did between 1999 and 2007.
“We took Nigeria to be the first economy in Africa. Today we are number five. Who is responsible for taking us down? Is it not APC? Then the best thing is for us to vote them out. And there is this now popular saying, which is that Tinubu must go, Tinubu must go.”
He said the rally was not to campaign but “to receive our brother, our friend, and his associates from PDP into ADC.”
“We have always been together. And therefore, today is a very, very welcome development as far as our political relationship is concerned,” Mr Atiku said
“And I can see the wonderful support he enjoys from the people of Ondo State. And I will want to see this support reflected in the next elections by the grace of God.”
Meanwhile, a former South-West Coordinator of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council in the 2023 election and General Secretary, Afenifere Sola Ebiseni, has defected from the party to the All Progressives Congress in Ondo State.
Ebiseni, who announced his defection when he visited the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, in Akure on Thursday, said he was coming into APC to support the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
