The Senior Special Adviser on Media to the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, Hezekiah Bamiji, has asserted that the defection of two senators, Francis Fadahunsi and Olubiyi Fadeyi, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was a miscalculation.
Naijaonpoint reports that Fadahunsi (Osun East) and Fadeyi (Osun Central) were among the four senators who were on Wednesday formally received from the opposition PDP to the ruling APC, further solidifying the party’s hold on the upper chamber.
Their defection increased the number of APC senators in the Senate to 70, up from the 50 it had at the commencement of the current 10th National Assembly in June 2023.
Fadahunsi and Fadeyi’s defection also reduced the number of PDP senators to 28.
The latest development comes amid the speculation over Adeleke’s political future, with rumours suggesting he might defect to the ruling APC.
However, Bamiji, in an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday, stated that federal lawmakers believed Governor Adeleke had planned to defect to the APC, and therefore fell into the trap set by the ruling party.
Bamiji stated that the lawmakers would have consulted Adeleke before the defection, adding that the governor did not need to defect to the APC to provide good governance to the people of Osun State.
He said, “Maybe what I can say is a kind of miscalculation on the part of the lawmakers. The rumour perhaps overwhelmed them, thinking that the governor was coming, they felt that they were Abuja politicians and should be faster than the governor.
“The governor is the leader of the party in Osun State. I felt they should have consulted with their leader and perhaps also the people in their various constituencies, but I am not sure that was done.
“Even if the governor was going to move, did they ask the governor any questions? Yes, the APC set a trap for them, and they entered.”