Four days to election, PDP Assembly candidate dumps party, endorses Abiodun
…Says party lawless, sinking
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Assembly candidate for Abeokuta South State Constituency 1 in Ogun State, Solomon Enilolobo, has shelved his ambition and declared support for the second term bid of the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
Enilolobo, who announced his stepping down from the House of Assembly race scheduled for Saturday, when led his supporters to the Iperu-Remo residence of the governor, to decamp to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said PDP in Ogun is not only lawless, but total disregard and respect for the Rule of Law.
According to him, “PDP is a sinking ship, its wake keep had been concluded and will be finally laid to eternal rest on Saturday, March 18.”
He added, “I found out that the party is lawless, it does not obey court orders, treats the court with disdain and I knew that I can no longer stay with such a party. And that is why I decided with my people after several consultations and we said it is a sinking ship anyway, so, let us abandon the ship.
“We know that we’ve done the wake keep and the final burial will be done on Saturday.”
Enilolobo explained that he was the Peoples Democratic Party’s House of Assembly candidate for Abeokuta South State Constituency 1, whose name was replaced by the party after he had won fair and square at the primaries held at the Centenary Hall, Ake, Abeokuta.
He said that he was surprised that his name wasn’t submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and he went to the court where he won the case, but, the party remained adamant.
“We had our primaries some on May 22nd, 2022 at the Centenary Hall, Ake and I was declared the winner at that primaries. The Department of the State Security Service and the police were there, but on getting to INEC, I found out that my name was not submitted at the INEC.
“So, I proceeded to the court, on September 26, Justice G. O Abdul-Malik delivered the ruling and pronounced me the winner. He said PDP should send my name to INEC and that they should publish the name.
“But one month, two months, I did not see the publication on the website of INEC and I proceeded to court again on the contempt of court proceedings. When we got to the court, we saw that INEC had finally published my name on the website on January 30th, 2023.
“On February 8th, 2023, we got a certified true copy of that publication, but to my surprise, few days later, we saw INEC doing another thing and when I investigated it, I saw that the same party was still behind it,” Enilolobo stated.
While commending Governor Abiodun for his midas touch across the state, noted that, “We’ve seen the good works you’ve been doing, I live in Idi-Aba and I pass through the estate, we can see all the good works. Oke-Jigbo to Isale-Ake is also there, those are places in my constituency, we have seen these things ourselves and we know that teaming up with you, we will be able to do better.”
Responding, Governor Abiodun, while congratulating Enilolobo and his team for their courage to dump their former party for the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state, noted that his administration and the APC in the state are law abiding.
Abiodun who also disclosed that his administration and his team believed so much in equity and the rule of law, acknowledged the defector’s decision to stand for the right thing.
“And from what you’ve said, you have come out of conviction, you have come because of what you stand for, obviously a very principled person. You realised the fact that where you were is not where you should be, you cannot be seen to continue to be at a place where they don’t have respect for the rule of law, you can’t continue to be at a place where they don’t have respect for democratic principles.
“I want to congratulate you and salute you for your courage and for standing for what you believe is right and not wanting to be part of what is wrong.
“We are a team of people that believe in the rule of law, we believe in fairness, equity and we find this type of behaviour totally strange and something that we will not even condone,” he said.
The Governor who assured Enilolobo and his team that they would be accorded regard, respect and rights they deserve, added that they won’t regret their decision.
