Former representative of Ondo State on the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Benson Enikuomehin and 200 of his supporters have dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the rival People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Enikuomehin, alongside his supporters in the Ilaje Local Government Area of the state, said they have had enough of the APC and they are now ready to work and vote for PDP and its candidate in the November 16 governorship election in the state.
Speaking at a rally held in Omonira in the riverine area of the local government, Enikuomehin said APC has destroyed all the tenets of democratic principles and the person who is at the helm of affairs of the party lacks the political will to move even Ilaje LG forward not to now say Ondo State.
According to him “Agboola Ajayi we know very well, his antecedents speaks volumes, he has tried his best for the development of our area, we can boldly say that he is our son, he is married to our daughter here in Ilaje, we have seen his positive impact in Ilaje development so we are very convinced that he would perform better than the person APC is now parading as their governorship candidate that has no known impact in Ilaje for a long time till date”
Speaking during the ceremony, two of the APC defectors from Atijere, Olawale Oladun, and Jejeniwa Raimi, said they have resolved to leave the APC because their former party is full of leaders who do not value followers and are not ready to empower any community but themselves.
Jejeniwa said, “We cannot be part of such a system again; we are now in PDP to add value to Agboola Ajayi’s ambition of becoming the governor of Ondo State.”
Similarly, Ebijimi, who led his group with over two thousand members into the PDP from APC, said coming on board the PDP at the moment is a unanimous decision by all members of his group and that they are in PDP to be part of the change agent for the good of Ondo State.
About seven groups from APC defected to the PDP, namely, Dr Benson Enikuomehin’s group, Dr Richard Ebijimi’s group, Igbo Ward 2 group, Mahin Ward 4 group (Atijere axis), Etikan group, and others.
The PDP Campaign Council in the Ilaje council area led by Adebayo Jackson Nomiye was inaugurated with the pledge to work assiduously for PDP in the LG
Nomiye said, “We would never look back; we would make sure we canvass around the Local government, vote for PDP, stand by and protect our votes so that there won’t be any manipulations on election day.”
Present at the event were PDP leaders including, Dr Eddy Olafeso, Chairman, of the Ondo PDP campaign council, Barr John Ola Mafo, Director General, Special Duties of Ondo PDP Gubernatorial Campaign Council, the Gubernatorial flag bearer of the party, H E Agboola Alfred Ajayi, Hon Rasheed Elegbeleye, Director General PDP Campaign Council, North, Alhaji Sheu Agba, Chairman, Mobilisation, PDP Governorship Campaign Council, Ondo South and Ayo Fadaka.