Mrs Cecilia Dada, a female Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker representing Ilejemeje Constituency in the Ekiti House of Assembly, has dumped the party and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dada, the Chief Whip of the Fifth Assembly, made the disclosure at a press conference in Ado-Ekiti on Monday.
She said that her decision to dump the PDP in Ekiti was because the party had lost focus.
“ I have now realised that I can only find fulfillment and my true identity in APC and not PDP which has derailed from the founding fathers’ objectives.
“I called this press conference to inform the people of Ekiti of my intention to dump the PDP for the APC.
“Events in recent months have shown that the PDP as a party has lost focus and has derailed from the objectives of its founding fathers.
“The party in Ekiti has been reduced to a one-man show with serious in-fighting among its rank and file.
“The character and pedigree of the last administration spelt the death knell of the party, the party is factionalised and the centre can no longer hold,” she said.
Dada disclosed that she had consulted her constituents, saying many would be defecting with her to APC soon.
The Speaker of Ekiti House of Assembly, Mr Adeniran Alagbada, had lauded lawmakers defecting to the APC, saying they had joined the train of development.
He restated that the defection of assembly’s lawmakers to APC was genuine and called on the electorate to vote en masse for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election on Feb. 16.
“To the people of Ekiti again, I say come out en masse on Feb.16 to vote President Buhari to lead Ekiti and Nigeria to the next level of development,” he said.
The former Speaker of Ekiti Assembly, Mr Dele Olugbemi, assured the defectors of equal opportunities in the party.
” I want to assure you that I defected to APC not long ago, right now I am holding a key position, so I want to restate here that our new members will also enjoy the same opportunities,” Olugbemi said.
Present at the event were the Leader of Government Business, Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, the lawmaker representing Ikere Constituency 1, Mr Sunday Akiniyi, and Mr Olarewaju Olayanju.
