A Lagos State PDP Chieftain, Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, says the party is not bothered by the defection of some leaders to the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state.
Pearse, former member, Atiku Abubakar 2023 Presidential Campaign Committee (PCC),said this in a statement on Tuesday .
He was reacting to the defection of some PDP leaders, including the party’s State Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Hakeem Amode, to the APC.
Amode, along with other PDP chieftains ,announced his defection at a news conference on Monday in Ikeja.
Speaking at the news conference, Amode said the defectors were motivated and inspired by the visionary leadership of the 2023 State PDP governorship candidate, Dr Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor), who had earlier moved to APC.
Other PDP leaders who announced their defection included Alhaja Safurat Abdulkareem, a two-time PDP deputy governorship candidate in the state and a former Lagos PDP deputy chairman, Chief Ola Apena .
Reacting, Pearse, Convener, Reset Lagos PDP, said the wave of defections from PDP to APC in Lagos should not give any headache.
He said party was not batting an eyelid or losing sleep over the defections.
According to him, Monday’s defectors are Jandor’s supporters who waited behind when he announced his own defection earlier in the year.
“They have now decided to make their position public. They had not been with PDP since Jandor came into the party,” he said.
Pearse said that the defectors were light- weight politicians whose influence would not be felt in the party.
“What power does Jandor and his supporters have when they were able to muster only five per cent in an election.
“Anyone who believed that the whole structure of Lagos PDP collapsed because they defected to APC can believe any joke.
“At best, we can agree that 5 per cent of the unreliable elements in PDP has left the party.
“Let me add, it is better that these saboteurs reveal themselves now ,before the 2027 elections. They are no longer a problem for PDP,” he said.
Pearse said that the defection would likely ensure the defeat of APC in the next election as the party had been purged of those he called political scavengers.
“By leaving the PDP, these political scavengers are inadvertently helping PDP to clean its house in preparation for 2027,” Pearse said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that other PDP leaders who dumped the party on Monday for APC included Prince Rufus Adeniyi, a former PDP Assistant State Organising Secretary (Lagos West) and Mr Jerry Afemikhe (Olori Odo), a former PDP House of Representatives Candidate in Surulere Constituency I.
Some 2023 PDP Lagos State House of Assembly candidates who dumped the party included Messrs Keshinro Abiodun (Epe 1);Akeem Jinadu, (Eti-Osa 1) and Ibrahim Balogun (Kosofe 2).
Messrs Taofeek Obanikoro (Lagos Island 1); Tunde Pratt (Lagos Mainland 2); Saheed Aregbesola (Oshodi-Isolo State 2), Sulaimon Thompson (Surulere 1)and Taofeek Kuye ( Ajeromi-Ifelodun State 1) also dumped PDP for APC.
Mr Adeyemi Kazeem:former PDP Chairman, Ojo Local Government;Pastor Gbenga Ogunleye,media aide to the 2023 Lagos PDP Governorship Candidate were also among those who defected. (NAN)
