Governor Ayodele Fayose suffered a setback Tuesday as several key members of his party, the PDP switched support to the APC.
President Muhammadu Buhari received the defectors at the grand finale of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the APC gubernatorial candidate in Saturday’s election.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that two federal lawmakers were among the defectors, along with the chief whip of the state house of assembly. There were indications dropped by the new APC faithful, that many assembly members may also be getting ready to abandon the PDP, ahead of the crucial 14 July election.
Among the defectors was Sen. Fatimat Raji Rasaki, representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District. She is the wife of a former military governor of Lagos. Mr. Olamide Oni, House of Representatives representing Efon/Ijero/Ekiti West Federal Constituency also dumped PDP.
Senator Rasaki represents the largest constituency in the state, the same area where Fayemi picked his running mate, an old political war-horse Chief Bisi Egbeyemi.
Political pundits said if the Ekiti central senatorial constituency vote for Fayemi, the election will be lost by the PDP candidate, Olusola Eleka.
The switching of allegiances by the PDP legislators was one of the highlights of yesterday’s rally and it was seen as a big deal as the APC national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, telling Senator Rasaki repeatedly: ‘God Bless You’, ‘God Bless you’, when they met before President Buhari arrived.
The Chief Whip of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Sunday Akinniyi and the Commissioner for Justice and attorney-general under Fayose administration, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi also switched allegiances to APC at the event.
Ajayi was also Fayose’s attorney-general in his truncated first term, 2003-2006.
NAN reports that the National Chairman of APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, was also on hand to receive the defectors. He assured them of equal treatment in the party.
