Ahead of the 2023 general election scores of loyalists of the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, have switched camp and pledged their allegiance to the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun.
The former loyalists of Senator Amosun who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state, were received by the Senior Special Adviser on Political Affairs to Governor Abiodun, Samson Tunji Egbetokun, on Friday.
Addressing the politicians, Egbetokun commended them for their decision to join the mainstream of the APC in the state and team up with the governor ahead of the general poll next year.
“You have got it right by taking this bold step in the sense that one cannot say because of sympathy you continue to stay with somebody and become useless. You should know what you want, where to get it and how to get it.
“We have a governor who is passionate with inclusiveness, justice and fairness. You can see that even if you join the party today, he takes and recognizes you as someone who had been with the party from the inception. Politics is parochial, it is how to better your life and that of others. You cannot do politics with emotions. I want to welcome you to Dapo Abiodun’d family and since you are not strangers, you will be promptly integrated”. Egbetokun stated.
While assuring them that their interest would be taken into consideration as they have taken the best political decision, the SSA noted that they were grassroots politicians with great mobilisation skills, noting “this is the right time for you to have retraced their steps especially now that elections are fast approaching”.
“Any politically-wise person should know that this is the right time to work and we cannot send them away”, he added.
He, however, appealed to other party members outside the mainstream to take a cue from the returnees and team up with the party especially now that a candidate from the southwest is running for the office of the president on the APC platform.
Speaking on behalf of the APC members, Femi Akinbile explained that their action was merely retracing their steps back to where they belonged.
He said their decision to return to the mainstream of the party would help the electoral fortune of the party as they are from wards with a huge population in the local government area, declaring that they were not ready to be misled again.
“Please tell our members in all the wards that we are back. They should not drive us away from meetings; they should absorb us and not treat us as new members or outsiders. We are going nowhere again as we are back 100 percent”, he assured.
He lauded Governor Abiodun for his leadership style and efforts at bringing the desired development to every part of the state.
Akinbile who stressed the need for unity among all members of the party as it would foster a sense of belonging irrespective of status, submitted that “this will enhance and ensure the success of the party at the forthcoming elections in the state and country at large”.