Date Published: 01/21/10

PDP suffers another setback in Ondo as Agagu's Commissioner, 1000 other decamped to Mimiko's LP

Olusegun Mimiko

The fold of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State yesterday suffered another set -back barely one month after two Commissioners under the Dr Olusegun Agagu administration and some chieftains of the party in the state massively defected to the Labour Party with their supporters.

          Another Commissioner, Mrs. Tola Aworh who under Agagu had manned the Information, Women Affairs and Commerce and Industry Ministries and the immediate past Chairman of the state-owned Investment Corporation, Chief Dupe Ogundiminegha, under the immediate past administration of Dr Olusegun Agagu dumped the PDP for the Labour Party (LP) in Ose local government area of the state with over 1000 of their supporters.       

Other decampees included former Ose local government Auditor of the PDP,

Mr Labi Jegede, Chief Sammy Ogundiminegha, Chief Osumo, Mr F.O. Afolabi, Hon. Odegbe Martins and the Action Congress (AC) Chairman in the local government, Mr Segun Alonge.

          Welcoming them into the LP, the State Chairman of the Party, Dr. Olaniya Oni congratulated the over one thousand decampees on their choice of wisdom and assuring them that they had made the right choice.

          He thanked them for their willingness to join hands with others to move the Party and the state forward, promising them that they would not be discriminated against.    

In his message, the State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko who personally witnessed the epoch making event, described the event as a celebration and victory of light over darkness, stressing that Labour Party was ordained by God to liberate the people of the state from oppression.

          Mimiko, who assured the decampees that they would not regret their decision to join the Labour Party, added that they would be partakers in moving the state forward.

          His words: “If you want Ondo State to be beautiful and prosperous, we must be ready to work.  We are going to do what a responsible government should do.  Although

We have been doing it and we shall continue to bring joy and happiness to the faces of our people.

“This is a new era in Ondo State; we all know that God is in control in our state.  We shall continue to seek his face in whatever we do to transform this state.  I promise by the special Grace of God that we’ll not disappoint the confidence you have in us”.

          The Governor urged both the old and new members to work together as a family for the people to receive dividends of democracy.  

It would be recalled that on December 21 ,2009, the immediate past Commissioner for Women Affairs under Agagu, Mrs. Margaret Akinsuroju, the Commissioner in the Civil Service Commission and the Woman Leader of the PDP, Mrs Aduke Olugboja had led over two thousand PDP members to join the LP