Obanikoro & Other PDP Bigwigs will be Joining us Soon – APC Chieftain

Obanikoro & Other PDP Bigwigs will be Joining us Soon – APC Chieftain

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Henry Ajomale on Wednesday said the party is stepping up arrangements to welcome a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Minister of State, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro into its fold in a matter of weeks.

Ajomale,who gave the hint in an interview with newsmen in Ikeja, said Obanikoro was coming along with other bigwigs of the state’s PDP.

The party chairman said Obanikoro and others had reached out to the party to resolve their issues with it and all was set for their formal defection.

He said Wednesday’s defection of PDP bigwig, Prince Lukman Ajose, will open a flood gate of defections from the PDP to the APC in the coming days.

“We welcome Prince Ajose to the APC. His defection is a plus for us. But Ajose is not the only one joining us. Some of the bigwigs in the PDP, including Obanikoro, will be joining us soon. I don’t want to give you a particular date but all I can tell you is all is set,” he said.

Ajomale said the coming of Ajose into the party, as well as other PDP members, will add value to the party and enhance its electoral fortune.

He said their coming was particularly gladdening as the party was preparing for the council polls and making early preparations for the general election in 2019.

Asked if the mass movement of PDP members into the party will not weaken the opposition and make the state a one party state, Ajomale answered in the negative.

He said since the PDP is not the only party in the opposition, it will be wrong to say the decimation of the party through defection will make the state a one party state.

The party chairman also said the party is stepping preparations to secure popular electoral victory for its candidates for the July 22 council poll.

He said that the party will ensure a level playing for all the aspirants of the party.

Ajomale described as false, the allegations in some quarters that the party was imposing candidates in some council areas.

The chairman said those making the allegations were blackmailers who were not sure of themselves and their ability to win at the party primary.

“It is pure blackmail. There is nothing like that. Everybody will be allowed a level playing ground,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has fixed July 22 for the council election and July 29 for run off.

Six of the eight lawmakers who won their elections to the House on the platform of the PDP had earlier defected to the APC on February 16.

Meanwhile, a credible source at the Lagos State House of Assembly told NAN that one of the remaining two PDP members in the assembly had already indicated his intention to defect to the APC and his letter will likely be read at the next sitting of the lawmakers.