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Supporters of the ousted National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alli Modu Sheriff, in the Southwest have decamped to the Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN).
The decampees included members of the Omo Ilu Foundation, mass mobilization arm of the Senator Buruji Kashamu’s political organization.
They said they decided to leave PDP because the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led party was not magnanimous in victory after the Supreme Court last week declared Makarfi as authentic chairman.
The decampees were led by a former PDP chairman in Ondo State, Mr Ebenezer Alabi, and the Director General, Omo Ilu Foundation, Otunba Leke Adekoya.
Speaking to reporters at the office of the new party on Old Ife Road, Ibadan, Alabi said that instead of being magnanimous in victory, the Makarfi group chose to display arrogance, while making reckless statements about the Sheriff group.
According to Alabi, the Supreme Court judgment came to the Sheriff group as a surprise but they expected that the Makarfi group would initiate reconciliation efforts with them in order to reposition the party for the 2019 election.
“But the Makarfi group chose not to be magnanimous in victory. First, they talked about offering us amnesty as if we are militants. Recently, the Acting National Secretary also said he would not be surprised to see Sheriff join the All Progressives Congress (APC). While Governor Fayose was also returning from Abuja, he branched at Ikere-Ekiti where he addressed people, making reckless statements. It was a display of arrogance of the highest order.”, he said.
Alabi stated that as followers of Ali Modu Sheriff, they could no longer cope with the level of impunity in the PDP, which he said was the original cause of disagreement between the two groups.
Alabi also accused Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and Senator Iyiola Omisore of substituting names of members of state executive with their own supporters at the National Headquarters of the party in Abuja. He said the same thing was done for Oyo State.
He said: “The purpose of the struggle was to stamp out impunity in the party. We thought the Supreme Court judgment would teach us a good lesson but it was not so. PDP has now been taken over by vampires that we can not co-habit with”.
He said members of his group decided to leave the PDP for the likes of Fayoses who are bragging of being in control of Southwest. He said they would soon realize that power belongs to the people who determine the destiny of candidates through the ballot, not a few individuals who over-estimate themselves.
“We, who believe in the leadership of Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff have, therefore, decided to move en masse to join forces with the Mega Party of Nigeria (MON). It was registered in 2010 as Mega Progressives Party but we are transforming it to the new name to show the strength. The name will change officially next week.”, he added.
Alabi said the group would soon make public names of all their leaders in Southwest.
He disclosed that the leadership was already talking to all members of the group in other geopolitical zones to move to Mega Party in order to show their strength in the next general election.
Also present at the briefing were the Oyo State Coordinator of the Omo Ilu Foundation, Alh. Kolawole Ibrahim, Chief Segun Odekunmi and Chief Mrs Mary Anjorin from Osun State.