A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Otunba Adetunji Oyabambi, has dumped the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) along with his supporters.
Oyabambi, a governorship candidate in 2019 on the platform of the United Democratic Party, disclosed this to The Informant247 Nigeria News at the party’s ward secretariat in Ijagbo on Thursday.
Oyabambi, who cited bad governance as his reason for leaving the ruling party, accused the APC-led administration of not investing in the people of the state.
He claimed that the party from the state to the national level is in the commotion and this is distracting the government from delivering good governance to the people.
“You can see what is happening in Kwara. It is almost everywhere in Nigeria. At the national level too, APC is facing a serious crisis. Here in Kwara, we have different factions. This has distracted the governor and he is now so focused on fighting party members and winning the forthcoming election when he is even yet to deliver his promises to the people of the state,” he said.
Oyabambi, who was received by the PDP ward executive members, stated that APC is a party with no clear ideology or plan for the masses.
He promised not to stop his empowerment programme to the people of his constituency, “this philanthropic act is in me, it is inbuilt and it will go with me anywhere I move to.”
The former Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki described him as a humble man who has the love of Kwarans and Nigerians at heart.
He said the country needs a visionary, young, vibrant and highly educated President like Saraki to usher in an era of rapid social and physical development in the country.
“Our party needs Saraki. He has goodwill, he is popular across the country and educated. He is capable of unlocking the potential of the country,” he said.
“When I view him from afar, I had a different perception of him. However, when I get closer, I discovered that he is a very humble man. He meant well for Kwarans and Nigerians.”
“And also, I must commend Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, indeed he is a great man and on his agenda, we stand.”
In his remarks, the Ijagbo ward chairman of the party, Hon. Samson Tunji Asa assured party supporters and electorates that if PDP wins the governorship election in 2023, the party would form a formidable administration that would impact positively direct on the lives of the masses.
He said, “I welcome Otunba to our great party. We have heard about your good gesture and name around. Indeed, we are happy you finally decided to join us. The calibre of people we have received in the last few days showed that our party will be bouncing back in the forthcoming election. Yes, we lost in 2019. But we have learnt our lessons. I can say it now clearly and loudly that we will win in 2023.”
One of his supporters who identified herself only as Sherifat told The Informant247 that she decamped with Oyabambi because of the politician’s personality.
“We were in APC before. He told us that we are moving to PDP and we didn’t even look back. He is our man, he is our candidate. His empowerment programme is the first of its kind in Ijagbo. We have benefitted. He is not doing it for politics because everyone irrespective of party or affiliation benefitted from it.”