Hundreds of members of some major political parties in Ondo State have defected to the Labour Party (LP) barely three weeks to the general elections.
The defectors are from the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the Akoko South-East/Akoko South-West Federal Constituency of the State.
At the event, held on Wednesday in Isua Akoko, the headquarters of the Akoko South-East Local Government Area of the State, the defectors also declared support for the presidential candidate of the LP, Mr. Peter Obi.
One of the leaders of the defectors and former House of Representatives aspirant of the APC, Mr. Stephen Adeyeri, said Obi’s track records coupled with his detailed manifesto containing the solutions to myriads of challenges troubling the nation, spurred him and his supporters to join the party and openly declared his support for the presidential candidate.
He said: “Obi is the candidate to beat because he has proven to be competent among other candidates. His records while he held sway in Anambra are in the public domain; he didn’t get all of that by subterfuge but by dint of hard work.
“I am here to sell the candidature of Obi to my supporters, and I told them the reason why he must be elected, particularly his plans to move the country from consumption to the state of production.”
Earlier, the party’s State secretary, Mr. Agabje Abiodun, who welcomed the defectors into the party, advised them to campaign for LP in every part of the State.
He said Dr Olusegun Mimiko performed well when he governed the State on the platform of the Labour Party from 2009 to 2014, hence the party must be voted based on antecedents.