Ondo LP lawmakers defect to APC

Two members of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olugbenga Edema(Ilaje Constituency II) and Folajimi Olaseinde-Vincent(Ose Constituency) on Thursday formally defected from the Labour Party to the All Progressives Congress.

The lawmakers made their declaration at a ceremony hosted by the Ondo State branch of the APC in Akure.

Edema, who was the only lawmaker who did not dump the Labour Party for the Peoples Democratic Party along with other members of the House on October 8, 2014, said he was leaving the party because the LP no longer existed in the state.

He said he delayed his decision to move from the LP because he decided to make some consultations with his people and the result of the consultation was his decision to move to the APC.

“I considered the option of going to the PDP like my colleagues but I soon discovered that the PDP in Ondo State is even more fragmented than the Labour Party from which I was coming.

“Apart from the presence of two separate state secretariats which is symptomatic of internal wrangling within the party, series of litigations, open condemnations in the media have now become the order of the day.

“Would it not be jumping from frying pan into fire? Certainly, you will agree with me that it is going to be a Herculean task for any Labour Party member migrating into the PDP to accomplish any political success in the PDP as it is presently constituted,” he said.

Olaseinde-Vincent on her part, said she was walking to freedom in her political experience as a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly.

Although she had earlier signed to defect to the PDP with her colleagues, she said had found it necessary to free herself of the problems and travails that had trailed her since she was elected as member representing Ose at the house.

She recounted her suspension ordeal and said she was no longer intimidated or afraid having been pushed to the limits.

She said, “I did not leave Labour Party, Labour Party has left my consciousness. I have left LP PDP ‘gbasibe’, I am now free.”

Asked if she was not worried if she would be victimised for her action by the majority party in the house, she replied that she had suffered persecutions already and she was familiar with such intimidations.

“I will not be intimidated, I will not be bullied. I will not be pushed to the wall. Already I have been pushed to the wall, but today, I am free,” she said.

The Chairman of Ondo APC, Isaac Kekemeke, who received the defecting members, said more members would soon abandon the PDP for the APC.

He said, “More people would soon be joining to effect the needed change in the state.”