…Slams Adebutu’s 2027 ambition as “insult to Ogun voters”
…Describes PDP leadership as “transactional, crisis-ridden”

Factional Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Hon. Sikirulah Ogundele, has announced his intention to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing persistent leadership crises at the national level and accusing the party’s current handlers of transactional politics.

In a statement made available to on Friday, Ogundele criticised the PDP’s 2023 governorship candidate in Ogun, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, accusing him of transforming the party into what he described as a mere extension of his family’s private foundation.

“Adebutu has converted the PDP to a mere branch of the Kensington Adebutu Foundation,” Ogundele alleged.

He described Adebutu’s reported plan to recontest the governorship seat in 2027 as “callous” and “an insult to the collective intelligence of Ogun voters.”

Ogundele argued that Adebutu’s aspiration was politically insensitive, given that the incumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun, would by 2027 have completed two terms, eight years, as governor, and hails from the same Iperu-Ward 3 in Ikenne Local Government Area as Adebutu.

“For Adebutu to be aspiring to run for the 2027 PDP governorship ticket is taking Ogun voters to be gullible,” he declared.

“People are wise enough and not gullible to vote for someone whose elder brother will be completing two terms of eight years as governor in 2027,” he added.

The factional PDP leader expressed serious concerns over the unresolved internal conflict at the party’s national level, particularly the long-running dispute between Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Sunday Udeh-Okoye over the position of National Secretary.

“The party leaders are not managing the crisis properly, and people are leaving PDP because of the uncertainty in the party,” he said.

Ogundele referenced political developments in Delta and Akwa Ibom States, where Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa have reportedly shifted the PDP structure to the APC, as has Governor Umo Eno in Akwa Ibom.

“If these governors can move with the party’s structure, who is Ogundele not to join APC now that the PDP is in shambles?” he queried.

Ogundele’s declaration marks the latest in a series of high-profile defections from the PDP, further underscoring the internal instability plaguing the party as it braces for the 2027 general elections.