ABEOKUTA – The Campaign Organization of PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu has disclosed that the defection and purported endorsement of Governor Dapo Abiodun by a faction loyal to a PDP governorship aspirant, Otunba Jimi Lawal has proven Jimi Lawal’s role in PDP as a spoiler.
THE ENCOUNTER NEWS reports that political loyalists of late Senator Buruji Kashamu and PDP governorship aspirant in Ogun state, Otunba Jimi Lawal endorsed the second term ambition of Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The groups said they pulled out of PDP to support the second term bid of governor Abiodun due to intra-party crisis rocking the PDP which led to over 160 litigation in court.
Leading the defectors drawn from the 236 wards in the state to APC on Sunday, Hon. Ola Kukoyi otherwise known as Kosigiri after the fallout of the PDP governorship primary which produced Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu as the party’s governorship candidate.
Speaking at Itoko, Abeokuta South Local Government Area, Ola Kukoyi, noted that the group with a strength running into thousands across the state was determined to ensure that Abiodun’s second-term ambition became a reality.
But in a swift reaction, the Media Director, Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organization, Afolabi Orekoya said Jimi Lawal was a mole sponsored by Dapo Abiodun and his co-travellers to hijack and destabilize the PDP in the state in order to achieve his second term ambition.
According to Adebutu, Jimi Lawal had joined the party, from the All Progressives Congress, barely three months into the party governorship primaries and was roundly defeated by Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu who has worked to restore peace and unity with the party.
After his defeat, Lawal rejected all the peace offerings to join the winning team in order to rescue Ogun State from Dapo Abiodun led government which according to Adebutu has taken the state backwards in the last four years.
“He filed dozens of frivolous applications against the PDP and Hon Adebutu, but to the glory of God, it all ended in futility. Even the court expressed worry over Jimi Lawal’s desperation to keep PDP out of the polls by all means.
“The court held that Lawal failed to establish with credible evidence his claim that the register/list of voting delegates used during the governorship primary election was marked ‘statutory delegates’ and contained names of political appointees and other persons other than those of the ad-hoc delegates.
“The judge held that Lawal, who scored zero votes in the primary election, was only playing the role of a spoiler, having defected from the All Progressives Congress shortly before the primary election.
“His return to APC has proven us right he was a mole who to destroy PDP ab initio. He has failed, and failed woefully. For us, it’s a good riddance to bad rubber and we are glad that God has exposed one of the enemies of the party.
“We remain resolute and determined to send Dapo Abiodun packing in the next Saturday’s election and no amount of procured endorsements would stop Abiodun’s defeat.
“He has shown lack of capacity to govern a sophisticated state like Ogun and we our can’t entrust their future in his hands for another four years.”
