Osun deputy gov’s brother, others dump APC for PDP

As political parties strategise ahead of theAugust 9, governorship poll in Osun State, a senior brother to the incumbent deputy governor, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori, Mr Sunday Laoye, will today lead thousands of the All Progressives Congress (APC) members  in the state into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigerian Tribune, authoritatively gathered.

Barring any hitch, Laoye, popularly known as “T Mack”, from Olorunda Local Government Area of the state, had resolved to decamp from his sister’s party, “citing undue marginalisation and poverty ravaging the masses of the state as reasons for his action.”

Credible source told the Nigerian Tribune that the development, which may sway some supporters of the APC to the opposition and deplete expected votes for the progressives, was already creating some upsets in both Olorunda and Osogbo local governments, where Sunday Laoye, is believed to wield political influence.

According to the source, “Laoye is personally worried and concerned about the downturn in the socio-economic

fortunes of Osun State in the last three years and the deceit, wrapped with propagandist approach of the APC government, which is the tool being used to stagnate growth of the state.”

However, dependable source close to Osun PDP, on Tuesday, confided in the Nigerian Tribune, that the deputy governor’s brother and his followers from the APC, will be officially received at the secretariat of the party, situated along Gbongan-Ibadan expressway, in Osogbo.

Commenting on the development, the director of media and strategy to Senator Iyiola Omisore, the PDP flagbearer in the state, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said “it is a welcome development, because the more the APC abuse us, the higher the acceptability and rising profile of our God -ordained candidate, who would liberate Osun, come August 9, 2014”.

 While reacting to the planned defection of Laoye and others to the PDP, the APC’s director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, asserted that “it is not new in Nigerian political scene. You can have family divided as to which political party they will support.”

“In the East, we once had SG Ikoku in the Action Group and his father, Alvan in the NCNC. They went into election and the son defeated the father. They later had dinner together to celebrate. The Shita-Bey family in Lagos, were split between Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and National Party of Nigeria (NPN). The same with the Dosunmu family. If the deputy governor’s brother now wants to be identified with PDP, there is nothing wrong with that. We can only wish him luck,” he submitted.