Oyo APC members dump party for LP

Some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state have defected to Labour Party.

 

Among the decampees are a Commissioner for Trade and Cooperatives in the state, Kazeem Adedeji, as well as other ex-members of Governor Abiola Ajimobi's cabinet.

Adedeji, who was sacked by the state governor last year, is currently facing criminal charge in a Lagos High Court over alleged fraud following a petition written against him to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by the state government.

Also joining LP from the ruling APC was Gbenga Olayemi, who was, until December last year, chairman, Oyo state Council for Youth Development.

After meeting with the defecting APC members, leadership of LP had agreed to fully involve the new intakes in the running of its state chapter, thereby ceding some sensitive posts to some of them.

In a letter addressed to Olayemi, dated February 10, 2014, in which he was appointed a co-chairman of Labour Party in the state, the LP leadership said it looked up to the reinvigorated interim executive council to organize a congress to elect substantive leadership for the party in the state.

"Following the series of deliberations in Oyo State chapter of the Labour Party, the National Working Committee (NWC) has approved the composition of an interim committee to be headed by Comrade Alhaji Basiru Lamidi Apapa and Mr Gbenga Olayemi as co-chairmen towards the state congresses of the party in Oyo State.

"Henceforth, the activities of the Labour Party shall rest squarely on the shoulders of the interim committee and they are expected to prepare the party for the forthcoming congresses in the state very soon," the letter jointly signed by the national chairman of LP, Dan Nwanyanwu and the national secretary, A.A Salam, read in parts.

Apart from Olayemi, other defecting former APC members were given slots in the party's state cabinet pending when a proper congress will be held to midwife a new executive council.

Most of the young leaders who switched over to LP are immediate past board chairmen in the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led administration and aggrieved loyalists of the late leader of APC and former governor of the state, Lam Adesina.

The young Turks, who are mainly between the age bracket of 40 and 50, in addition to being upset at the administration of the party post-2011 elections, are said to be at the vanguard of a crusade for generational paradigm shift in the politics of the state.

Olayemi, a Havard and University of Ibadan certificated LP chairman, is to pilot the affairs of the party in the state with Alhaji Basiru Apapa, a co-chairman, pending state congresses scheduled to begin soon.

Other APC members who made LP's executive include Musbau Popoola (state deputy chairman); Tayo Adeagbo (state deputy chairman); Mr Okesooto Biliaminu (state deputy chairman); Gbenga Oyekola (state secretary); Caleb Oyaniyi (state organising secretary); Kazeem Adedeji (state publicity secretary); Mrs Ayo Ogunleye (state women leader); Moruf Aderoju (state financial secretary); and many others.

The national leadership of LP, including the Ondo state Governor Mimiko, are expected to formally and publicly welcome the defectors to the party as well as inaugurate the interim committee in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital soon.