By Oladimeji Abitogun & Rachael Olokungboye
The sitting Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, on Monday rode through the streets of Akure into the waiting arms and warm embrace
of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, through the Chairman of the State Chapter, Chief Clement Faboyede.
Agboola Ajayi’s return to the party on the platform of which he once represented his Ese-Odo/Ilaje Federal Constituency as a member of the House of Representatives is the climax of the face-off with the All Progressives Congress, APC administration, led by Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu with whom he has fundamentally disagreed in the last two years.
Ajayi, who was obstructed and stripped of official privileges as the incumbent deputy governor, by the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bolaji Salami, who was allegedly acting at the prompting of Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the State Governor, rode triumphantly through Akure streets and promised that as a pioneer member of PDP who is returning home, he knew the rules and guidelines of the party with which he would have no qualms complying.
Governor Akeredolu has denied knowledge of the confrontation between the Commissioner of Police and the lieutenant governor, saying the allegation was a smear.
Ajayi and his supporters formally dumped the APC on Sunday. He was with a crowd of supporters at the PDP Secretariat, Alagbaka, Akure.
Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the PDP joined Faboyede in welcoming Ajayi into the fold. Uche Secondus drew attention of the crowd to the fact that the manner of CP Bolaji Salami’s confrontation with and humiliation of the Deputy Governor showed desperation and called to question the safety of average Nigerians. He demanded an explanation.
“I have officially joined my party”, Ajayi declared. He said that the PDP has demonstrated and shown that it is a party rooted in democracy. He promised to provide the leadership that would take the party to victory in the October 10, 2020, governorship election.
He told the cheering crowd that “I am here this afternoon to inform you that I have now decided to become a member of PDP. I am one of the pioneer members of the party. So I know the rules and guidelines and I would not do anything against the party’s Constitution”. Uche Secondus said that PDP does not discriminate.
The reaction from the candidates who had expressed intention to run before the return of Agboola Ajayi has been that of calculations and focus. Eyitayo Jegede who oiled and sustained the PDP machinery for the past three and half years was one of the stalwarts who came to show respect to the visiting delegation from Abuja.
Sharpedgenews gathered that the same sentiment expressed by Uche Secondus is being shared by the leading aspirants in the party to welcome “all and sundry under the big umbrella come rain or shine”.
Many of the aspirants on ground would not snub Ajayi. “A man who could not pursue reconciliation in the years of fighting with his principal, may have no new idea on the table”, said a bigwig who opted for anonymity.