A governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Jimi Lawal, has left the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Jimi Lawal’s defection to the APC came after he failed to make the courts declare him as the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun.
Media Talk Africa recalls that Lawal, who was a former aide of the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, joined the PDP last year and obtained the governorship form.
After Adebutu was announced as the winner of the primary election, Lawal instituted various court cases against Adebutu and other PDP candidates, but he failed at the appellate courts.
On Sunday, Lawal and his followers were received into the APC by Governor Dapo Abiodun.
Reacting, Afolabi Orekoya, who is the Director of Media, Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation, told Media Talk Africa that Jimi Lawal group, Ola Kukoyi, Fasiu Ajadi and others have been known as APC members for over five months, saying “this is not new anymore.”
Orekoya emphasised that “Lawal has been a mole sponsored by Dapo Abiodun and his co-travellers to hijack and destabilise the PDP in the state in order to achieve his second term ambition.”
According to him, Lawal had joined the PDP from the APC, barely three months into the party governorship primaries and was defeated by Adebutu.
Orekoya said Lawal rejected all the peace offerings to join Adebutu to give victory to the PDP in the polls.
“He filed dozens of frivolous applications against the PDP and Hon Adebutu, but to the glory of God, it all ended in futility. Even the court expressed worry over Jimi Lawal’s desperation to keep PDP out of the polls by all means. Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court, in a judgment in December, 2022, labeled Jimi Lawal as a spoiler,” Orekoya stated.
He maintained that Lawal’s return to APC has proven that he was a mole whose aim was to destroy the PDP ab initio.
“He has failed, and failed woefully. For us, it’s good riddance to bad rubbish and we are glad that God has exposed one of the enemies of the party.”
He noted that the PDP remains resolute and determined to win Saturday’s elections in Ogun, with God and the electorate on its side.
