Former Deputy Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Adekunle Akinlade, on Tuesday formally rejoined the All Progressives Congress (APC), marking his second major political defection in less than five years.

Naijaonpoint reports that Akinlade, popularly known as Triple A, made the announcement in Abeokuta, just a week after he publicly resigned from the PDP, citing deep-rooted and unresolvable internal crises within the party.

Speaking with journalists, Akinlade revealed that he was returning to the APC along with his political loyalists from the PDP and the Allied People’s Movement (APM), which he had previously led into the PDP ahead of the 2023 elections.

He said, “The whole APM family that went to PDP with me, we have all decided that we are going back to APC.

“By tonight or tomorrow, we will try to meet with the Governor and once we have met with him, we will tell him about the decision we have made today — that we are back home.”

Akinlade stated that he and his supporters would align fully with the leadership structure of the APC in Ogun State, pledging loyalty to Governor Dapo Abiodun and party elder statesman, Aremo Olusegun Osoba.

“Governor Dapo Abiodun is the leader of the party, we are going to align with that leadership. Aremo Olusegun Osoba is the father of the party, we will align with that too.

“We believe the family will have an open hand to accommodate us back into the fold,” he said.

Akinlade had earlier contested as the APM’s governorship candidate in 2019 before teaming up with PDP as the running mate to Ladi Adebutu in 2023, a ticket that lost to the incumbent governor.

Commenting on recent talks of a proposed coalition among opposition political figures, Akinlade dismissed the movement as being driven by “vindictive and ambitious politicians.”