Why I Returned To APC- Former Osun SSG, Adeoti

By Ayobami Agboola, Osogbo

The candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) in the 2018 governorship Election in Osun State, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, has returned to ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

He formally defected to APC with thousands of his supporters including some notable members of the ADP who have been paddling the canoe of the party before he joined them.

He moved to the ADP after the crisis that broke out during the APC governorship primary in the state.

Officially announcing his defection to his former party at his campaign office Osogbo , Adeoti said he had suffered so much for the party, recalling that he was jailed thrice because of the party, and nobody would pray for the house he built to collapse.

Adeoti while addressing Journalists noted that apart from the fact that he is a core member of the progressive party, said he has no choice than to go back to his former party considering appeals and number of persuasions he had received from the leadership of the party both in the state and at the national level.

The former SSG who said some notable party leaders among whom are the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu have persuaded him to return to the party added that he was going back to the party to resolve the internal crisis within the party.

“You will all recall all the events that preceded our leaving the APC that culminated in my decision, along with my teeming supporters, to find another progressive platform to contest the governorship election.

“That decision was indeed not an easy one, as we did all we could, to make the party leadership see reasons why due process needed to be observed in picking the party’s flag bearer for the 2018 gubernatorial poll In a way, our action had contributed in no small measure to the further strengthening of internal democracy as reflected in the volume of votes garnered
by the ADP in the said election.

“We made history in a way, in view of the number of votes (49,742) garnered, despite having barely less than two months to prepare for an election of such magnitude.

“No candidate in the political history of the state has ever neared that feat given that hard choice we made and environment we operated in. Our choice of ADP as the platform to contest the last governorship election was equally not an easy one in view of the numerous overtures we also received from other political parties in the country, freely making available to us their platforms to contest the election.

“We however saw in the ADP, similar progressive philosophy identical with that of the APC, thus we decided to perch there and partake actively in the governorship election.

“Since the said election was held, several political and opinion leaders in the progressive fold across the state and even beyond have been making numerous overtures and mounting pressure on my humble self and my numerous supporters on the need for our chickens to come home to roost.

“The result of the efforts of the likes of the former governor and pioneer National Chairman of the APC, Chief Adebisi Akande, immediate-past governor of the state and incumbent Minister for Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola and members of the State Elders Forum led by the former Secretary to the StateGovernment, Chief Sola Akinwumi is what we are all witnessing today.

“It must not also go without particular mention the numerous efforts made by the current Governor of the State, Alhaji Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, who in spite of his very busy schedule, tirelessly mounted pressure on me and my supporters through telephone calls and personal visit to my residence in lwo, in company of the APC State Chairman, Prince Gboyega Famoodun and Alhaji Razak Salinsile, the state Secretary of the APC, on the need for us to return to the All Progressives Congress, where he said we rightly belong.

“Efforts by former and serving state governors across the federation are also
worthy of being mentioned.
We also need to commend all the efforts of numerous individual prominent
politicians, women and youths groups within the APC, who on daily basis have
turned my lwo residence into their Mecca-of-sorts, persuading us on the need to come back to APC and collectively further strengthen the party ahead of all future
elections.

“However, our brief but eventful sojourn and investment in the ADP has yielded bountiful dividends, as founding members of the party, who we met on ground and had contributed in no small measure to the party’s sure-footing in the state, are here today to join us in our return to the All Progressives Congress. I believe that together, we still have so much to politically offer the state.

“On a final note, 1, Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti, hereby declare my membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and consequently direct all my teeming supporters across the state to do the same immediately.

“All my supporters are also enjoined to go to their individual wards in their respective Local Government Council Areas in the state to formally join the party, APC, and actively participate in all party activities.

“We have been assured by the party leadership at the national and state levels that none of us would be reprimanded or discriminated against based on our past political efforts.”