Mimiko
Barely a week after the Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko left Labour Party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 23 members of the State House of Assembly yesterday joined him in his new party.
However, one out of the 24 remaining lawmakers that were elected on the platform of the LP, Gbenga Edema representing Ilaje constituency II in the assembly was yet to join the PDP claiming that he was still consulting on the matter.
With this development, PDP now has 24 members in the 26-member legislature as one of them, who was the former speaker, Hon Samuel Adesina died early this year.
The action of the lawmakers was contained in letter read on the floor of the House stating that they decided to leave the LP after meeting with relevant stakeholders in their areas.
According to the letter addressed to the Speaker and signed by 23 members of the house, the lawmakers said they were no more comfortable with developments in the LP.
The letter read, “We the underlisted honourable members, having met with relevant stakeholders in our various constituencies, have decided to decamp from Labour Party to Peoples Democratic Party.
“This is because we are not very comfortable with legion of litigation pending before various courts across the nation at the instance of members of LP, which already igniting crisis in the party. As a matter of fact, the Labour Party is already factionalised and totally polarised because of the aforementioned reasons.
“Consequently, we prefer to key into the Transformation Agenda of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the leadership of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. This we believe will definitely be to the betterment of our various constituencies”.
Speaking on the development, the Speaker, Jumoke Akindele, said following the decision to dump the LP, the natural place for many of them was the PDP as most of them were from PDP.
She said the LP was like a “small pot with many spoons”, saying with the movement to the PDP, the members now had a wider platform to operate.
On the only member that was yet to join the PDP, Akindele said the lawmaker told the house that he was still consulting with the stakeholders in his area.
She added that his failue to sign the letter of intent on the defection did not mean he was against the move, explaining that members of the house were united on the move.
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