- Safiu Kehinde
Former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Iyiola Omisore, has accused Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, of begging to join the party.
NPO Reported the ongoing speculations surrounding Adeleke over possible defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
Speaking on the speculations in an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today’s programme on Wednesday, Omisore held that the PDP has lost it popularity in the state.
This, according to Omisore, had rendered Adeleke a political orphan now begging to return.
The former Osun State Governor claimed that the defection of former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) alongside his supporters as well as the defection of several members of the PDP to the APC have left Adeleke allegedly struggling and lobbying his way back to the APC with his meeting with President Bola Tinubu and Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
“I’ve not seen a situation where a state governor is struggling to enter another party. One, the PDP is no longer popular in Osun; half of its members have defected. The Aregbesola faction has now moved to ADC.
“So he [Adeleke] is now a [political] orphan. If they are coming to the APC, they should come home and talk to us.
“There was a meeting that we saw — his elder brother, the businessman, the widow’s father [a reference to Adedeji Adeleke], and himself — met with the President in Lagos.
“They also reached out to Dapo Abiodun, the governor of Ogun State, to bring him [Adeleke] into the party. So they are struggling,” Omisore said.
The APC chieftain slammed Adeleke’s alleged plot to join the the party from the PDP, questioning his popularity.
“As a governor, if you are popular enough, go and take another party. Look at Governor Orji Kalu in 2007 — he formed PPA and won in Abia. The current governor of Abia [Alex Otti] left the APC, joined a new party, and won as well.
“I’ve never seen a governor begging to enter a party in my life. This is the first time. He’s strongly begging, fighting to get into a party.
“The point is that when you want to come to a party, there must be a willing section of the party members. You must come to the home because politics is very local. What are they bringing to the party?” Omisore asked.
While Adeleke had recently dismissed his alleged plot to defect to the APC, the speculations largely remain strong as commissioners under his administration yesterday pledged their support for any decisions made by the governor.