By, Omowumi Hannah, Ibadan

The camp of the ruling Allied People’s Movement (APM) in Oyo state suffered a heavy depletion on Tuesday as over 200 former Councillors who served as members of the Legislature across the 33 Local Government Councils in the state between 2021 and 2024 defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) .

The defectors vowed to mobilize voters for the victory of all APC candidates in the 2027 general elections.

The grassroots politicians were received at the Oke-Ado APC State Secretariat by the entire members of the Broom Party’s State Executive Committee led by the Chairman, Otunba Moses Alake Adeyemo.

The reception ceremony was also witnessed by the former Senate Leader and Co-ordinator of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Teslim Folarin, and his team who had come to the Secretariat on a courtesy visit.

In the words of the leader of the defectors, Hon. Muili Kazeem Arowodana, the decision to quit the ruling APM was borne out of years of maltreatment, deprivation and dehumanization in the hands of Governor Seyi Makinde who he described as a very difficult person to work with in the spheres of politics and public administration.”

“We are here, at the Secretariat of the APC in Oyo state, this afternoon to formalise our status as new members of the Progressive Family. There is gainsaying in the fact that we have wasted a lot of years in the Omititun Camp of Gov. Seyi Makinde as we have been made to suffer untold hardship, dehumanization and deprivation. We served for three years without anything to show for it in terms of individual gains and delivery of dividends of democracy to our people at the grassroots.”

“Allocations to our respective local government councils were hijacked and diverted by the governor and his cronies in the name of Joint Account operation while peanuts were paid to us in salary and without any allowances. None of us could attract meaningful projects to our constituencies because only the governor was making decisions on project award, choice of contactors and costs. Incidentally, the scenario still plays out till today in our dear state since the same corrupt leader remains in the saddle.”

“Gov. Makinde has deliberately withheld our severance packages and as a result of this, many of our colleagues are economically down. We have lost some our our colleagues to the cold hands of death because they could not afford to treat themselves of mild sickness and ailments.”

‘To make the matter worse, the governor has brought forward a man who shares his ideology as his likely successor but this would not happen. We have a far better candidate in Sen. Sarafadeen Alli and we have determined to work for him and other APC candidates going forward.” Arowodana said.