Ogun PDP, LP disagree over defection claims

• Africcon News
  Africcon Report: Ogun PDP, LP disagree over defection claims
  Africcon New Media – News
  
  From: Africcon Media – Nigeria
  
  Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party in Ogun State have disagreed over defection claims in the state.
  
  While the PDP said those defecting to the LP were members of the Peoples Party of Nigeria led by former governor Gbenga Daniel, the LP argued that the PDP had become a “sinking ship” that everyone wanted to avoid.
  
  A former PDP stalwart, Mr. Ladi Adebutu, said he defected to the LP because his former party had become “prostrate” in the state.
  
  Adebutu, son of billionaire businessman, Chief Kessington Adebutu, said with the perennial crisis rocking the PDP in the state, it was clear the opposition party lacked the capacity to adequately represent the interest of the people in the 2015 general elections.
  
  The former PDP chief, who spoke to reporters at his Iperu home on Saturday, said he defected to the LP along with 5,000 PDP and the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria members in the state.
  
  He said they could no longer tolerate the handling of the affairs of the Ogun PDP by party financier, Buruji Kashamu.
  
  He accused Kashamu of excluding other PDP stalwarts, including Jubril Martins Kuye and former President Olusegun Obasanjo groups from the affairs of the party.
  
  Adebutu said, “The internal fighting in the PDP in Ogun presently has made the party prostrate. I do not see it being in a position to represent fully the interest of our people in 2015 and beyond. By the policy Prince Kashamu has conducted now, the fragmentation in the party has increased because the JMK people are isolated from the process, likewise the Obasanjo people.
  
  “Therefore it is imperative we find a brand new platform that will harness the yearnings of everybody and from that brand new platform, we can step forward and do what is right for Ogun State.”
  
  The state LP Secretary, Mr. Sunday Oginni, said the party would continue to welcome defectors from the PDP and other parties in the state.
  
  Oginni said, “PDP is a sinking party that is just looking for means of survival and that is the reason for the lies they are telling about that most of their people are not defecting to Labour Party. They are just crying over spilt milk. All the people that matter in PDP in Ogun have already moved to Labour Party.”
  
  But the PDP state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Waliu Oladipupo, said Adebutu had always been a member of the PPN.
  
  According to him, contrary to the LP’s claim, the PDP in the state and in Adebutu’s Remo home remains strong.
  
  Oladipupo noted that the PDP was not a “one-man show”.
  
  He added, “Unlike their fledgling party, the PDP in Ogun State does not belong to one man. It belongs to the people who have entrusted the running of its affairs into the hands of tested, trusted and experienced men and women. Whatever decision is taken on behalf of the party is done in consultation with the people. That is why the leadership of the party meets with the people through various fora every week.
  
  “The PDP in Remo Federal Constituency remains one strong indissoluble body, with leaders like Dave Salako, Pa Otesanya and a host of others. For instance, Salako, who is the arrowhead of the JMK group in Remo, is still very much in the PDP. Just last week, he hosted a meeting of PDP leaders and members.”
  
  The leader of the JMK Group, Salako, told our correspondent on the telephone that it was not true that he and the others had moved to the LP.
  
  He added that in spite of the crisis within the PDP in the state, the three major groups would not leave the party.