Some loyalists of the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, have dumped their leader and joined the camp of the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun.
The former loyalists of Amosun who are members of the All Progressives Congress were drawn from the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state and were received by the Senior Special Adviser on Political Affairs to the Governor, Tunji Egbetokun, on Friday.
Addressing the supporters, Egbetokun commended them for their decision to join the mainstream of the APC in the state and team up with the governor ahead of the general poll next year.
He said, “you have got it right by taking this bold step in the sense that one cannot say because of sympathy you continue to stay with somebody and become useless. You should know what you want, where to get it and how to get it.
“We have a governor who is passionate about inclusiveness, justice, and fairness. You can see that even if you join the party today, he takes and recognizes you as someone who had been with the party from its inception. Politics is parochial, it is how to better your life and that of others. You cannot do politics with emotions. I want to welcome you to Dapo Abiodun’s family and since you are not strangers, you will be promptly integrated.
“This is the right time for you to have retraced your steps, especially now that elections are fast approaching.
“Any politically-wise person should know that this is the right time to walk and we cannot send them away.”
He, however, appealed to other party members outside the mainstream to take a cue from the returnees and team up with the party especially now that a candidate from the southwest is running for the office of the president on the APC platform.
Speaking on behalf of decamped loyalists, Femi Akinbile, explained that their action was merely retracing their steps back to where they belonged.
He said their decision to return to the mainstream of the party would help the electoral fortune of the party as they are from wards with a huge population in the local government area, declaring that they were not ready to be misled again.
“Please tell our members in all the wards that we are back. They should not drive us away from meetings; they should absorb us and not treat us as new members or outsiders. We are going nowhere again as we are back 100 per cent.”
