‘We’ve Moved On And Will Not Miss You’ – Lagos PDP Tells Defectors

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed that it is unconcerned regarding the defection of several party leaders to the All Progressives Congress (APC) that occurred on Monday.

The PDP Vice Chairman for Lagos Central, Hakeem Olalemi, made this statement during an interview on Tuesday.

Naijaonpoint reports that several PDP leaders, including the party’s State Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Hakeem Amode, declared their resignation from the party on Monday.

Among the notable PDP leaders who transitioned to the APC are Alhaja Safurat Abdulkareem, a two-time deputy governorship candidate for the State PDP, and Chief Ola Apena, a former deputy chairman of the State PDP.

However, Olalemi remarked that the party would not feel the absence of the defectors, as they were not engaged members of the party.

The PDP leader noted that these defectors had not participated actively in the PDP over the past two years.

“All the people that left had been inactive in the party in the past two years; we are not going to miss them at all.

“The party has since moved on. We are moving on without them. These people showed long ago they were not PDP members again, they are Jandor’s people and we have always known that they are APC.

“In Lagos PDP, we have long forgotten them. They had not been part of us for over two years. When last did you hear them defend PDP in Lagos State before their defection?

“It (their defection) is not news to us in Lagos PDP, we know they left since. We are not bothered a bit,” Olalemi said.

It is important to highlight that other leaders of the PDP who left the party on Monday for the APC included Prince Rufus Adeniyi, a former Assistant State Organising Secretary of the PDP for Lagos West, as well as Mr. Jerry Afemikhe (Olori Odo), who was a former candidate for the House of Representatives in Surulere Constituency I.

Additionally, several candidates from the 2023 PDP Lagos State House of Assembly who abandoned the party are Messrs Keshinro Abiodun (Epe 1), Akeem Jinadu (Eti-Osa 1), and Ibrahim Balogun (Kosofe 2).

Furthermore, Messrs Taofeek Obanikoro (Lagos Island 1), Tunde Pratt (Lagos Mainland 2), Saheed Aregbesola (Oshodi-Isolo State 2), Sulaimon Thompson (Surulere 1), and Taofeek Kuye (Ajeromi-Ifelodun State 1) also left the PDP to join the APC.

Moreover, the former PDP Chairman of Ojo Local Government, Adeyemi Kazeem, and Pastor Gbenga Ogunleye, who served as the media aide to the 2023 Lagos PDP Governorship Candidate, were also part of those who defected.