An ally of former Osun governor Rauf Aregbesola, who served as finance commissioner in his government, defected to the People’s Democratic Party.
Wale Bolorunduro, member of the Congress of all progressivesannounced his defection while speaking to reporters in Osogbo on Wednesday.
He described the APC in Osun State as having leadership of “deception, injustice, lack of fairness, unhealthy/unnecessary rivalry and poor reward system that are foreign to what Awolowo stood for”.
He said his decision to resign from the APC was after extensive consultation and has been accepted by his supporters.
“I have wisely and extensively consulted with my supporters, admirers, friends and family, who felt that we should pitch our tent with the PDP, join this party and work with them to shine the light (Imole Osun),” said Mr. Bolorunduro. .
“We would have done this before the 2022 gubernatorial elections, but knowing them, it was better to err on the side of caution to have today, tomorrow and the future.
“My records are there at Zenith Bank, where I was a pioneer in different financial groups (oil and gas upstream, telecommunications, electric sector, infrastructure group) at different times where God allowed me to conquer one front after another. My adrenaline tends to skyrocket with new challenges.”
Bolorunduro’s defection is the first high-profile defection from the APC to the PDP after the latter won the gubernatorial election in the state.
Mr. Aregbesola, the current Minister of the Interior, has been at odds with Governor Gboyega Oyetola, leading to divisions in the state chapter of the CPA.
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Ahead of the gubernatorial election on July 16, The Osun Progressives, the faction of the party loyal to Aregbesola, reiterated its support for the APC; although they kept silent about their support for Oyetola.
On the eve of the elections, Aregbesola traveled to Germany to attend a conference, scheduled two days after the elections.
Oyetola eventually lost her re-election bid to Ademola Adeleke, the PDP candidate, who polled 403,371 votes against her 375,027 votes.
Oladele Oluwabamji, the PDP’s director of media and publicity in the state, confirmed the former finance commissioner’s defection.
“I was at his press conference, I think I can confirm that he formally defected to the PDP,” Oluwabamiji said.