Alao-Akala dumps PDP, picks LP Gov ticket

Following his loss at the Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries, former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has defected to the Labour Party (LP) where he was said to have been offered the party’s governorship ticket.
Authoritative source confided in Daily Independent that a leader of LP in Oke-Ogun area of the state had told other gubernatorial contestants, including Sharafadeen Alli, Nurudeen Akinyo, Kazeem Adedeji and Olu Abiala, to allow Alao-Akala because of his war chest.
It was gathered that the leader simply told them that they could not muster the financial resources to fight election battles, urging them to give way to the former governor, following which the Islamic faithful among them were said to have started jostling for the running-mate position.
It would be recalled that at an enlarged meeting of stakeholders in Ibadan, some of the leaders of the party, who are sympathetic to Alao-Akala’s course said the reason behind the call to quit PDP is basically because of the insincerity and injustice in the party.
Abraham Ojo, his media aide, in a press statement on behalf of Akala, said: “ thousands of supporters of the former governor today storm the Bodija residence to deliberate on the way forward after the injustice meted to him by the PDP.

“After series of meetings and discussion, they all decided to leave the PDP and move to an alternative party, which is Labour Party”, Ojo said.
Among the party leaders at the meetings were Jacob Adetoro, Adigun Irawo, Braimoh Yusuf, past commissioners, local government chairmen, among others.
They argued that, “there is no basis for them to remain in PDP basically because the party has refused to toe the line of truth; everybody in the state knows that Alao-Akala and his supporters are strong pillars that hold the party and if a genuine delegate congress is conducted, Akala will always win.”