Some Labor Party (LP) leaders in the southwestern states have shifted their support to the presidential candidate of the Congress of all progressives (APC), Bola Tinubu, saying that the party has become an unstable platform.
Omotoso Banjo, who is the chairman of the party’s southwestern branch, led the group to address a press conference in Akure on Monday.
He said the LP in the region had collapsed its structure in Tinubu’s support groups ahead of the February 25 presidential election.
The LP’s Ondo State secretary, Omowumi Olosola, also announced her defection on the spot, along with other party members.
“The Labor Party is currently a shaky platform for anyone to compete on. The Labor Party is a failed platform for anyone to challenge. I don’t know Peter Obi and I am less concerned about him, but I am concerned about those who are celebrating the mediocrity of the Labor Party inside Nigeria,” said Mr Omotoso.
“In view of this, the South West Labor Party leaders have decided to leave the party because we have a lot of mediocrity there and they are after money, they are not ready to serve Nigeria.
“The Labor Party is not ready to serve Nigeria, so we decided to leave the party and come to the APC. I brought down the party structure in Ekiti state. So, I don’t know how Obi can come now and embarrass us here in the southwest.
“We are the pillars of that party in the Southwest, and to the glory of Almighty God, we have torn down the structure today.
“I was very surprised to hear from the party director general, Akin Osuntokun, we don’t know him in the Labor Party, Osuntokun represents his own personal interest.
“So, Osuntokun, we don’t know you and it is better that you return to the APC and work for Bola Tinubu.
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“We are leaving and collapsing the structure of the Labor Party across the South West through Senator Dayo Adeyeye in APC.”
The former Minister of State for Public Works and national coordinator of the Southwest Agenda for Asiwaju, SWAGA 2023, Dayo Adeyeye, upon receiving the decampees, said that their movement was a boost for the APC in the region.
There was no immediate reaction from the party hierarchy to the sudden defection of the leaders.
However, factions continued to exist in Ogun and other southwestern states, but Obi had maintained that this would not affect his campaigns or his goal of winning the presidential election.