Atiku, Aregbesola receive PDP defectors to ADC in Ondo

The Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, and the National Secretary, 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.

Mr Jegede, who unsuccessfully sought twice to be governor of the state under the PDP, had earlier resigned from the opposition party to pursue his political ambition on a new platform.

Those who followed Mr Jegede out of the PDP include a former Board of Trustees (BOT) member, Segun Adegoke; the incumbent chairmen of the party in Ondo West and Owo Local Government Areas, and some former political office holders and lawmakers.

During the reception, Mr Jegede said he decided to join the ADC, along 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 ADC candidates in all the elections coming up next year.

Mr Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State, urged members of the ADC in the state to mobilise their supporters to vote for Atiku and other candidates running on the party’s platform.

Also speaking, Atiku said the voters must come together to vote out the APC and its presidential candidate, President Bola Tinubu, in light of the current hardship Nigerians are facing.

“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.

“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 popular saying, which is that ‘Tinubu must go’, ‘Tinubu must go,’ he said.

The former vice president said he was delighted to have Mr Jegede back in ADC, as they had always been together.

“We have always been together and therefore, today is a very, very welcome development as far as our political relationship is concerned.

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“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,” Atiku stated.

APC gains

Meanwhile, Sola Ebiseni, former South-west Coordinator of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council in the 2023 election, has defected from the party to the APC.

Mr Ebiseni, who is also the secretary general of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, announced his detection when he visited the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, in Akure on Thursday.

He said he was coming into APC to support the re-election of President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

Mr Ebiseni said he and his supporters had been integrated into the APC campaign structure ahead of the 2027 general elections.