Posted by By MUYIWA OYINLOLA and SUSAN AGWU on
The camp of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) further depleted on Tuesday as its pioneer chairman, Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun defected to the ruling Action Congress (AC) with hundreds of supporters.
The camp of the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) further depleted on Tuesday as its pioneer chairman, Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun defected to the ruling Action Congress (AC) with hundreds of supporters.
The cross-over ceremony which took place at the AC Secretariat, Ogba Lagos, attracted the presence of the party Chieftains including the immediate past governor of the state, Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Flanked by other members of 'Liberal Democrats," the group under which he operated in the PDP, Bashorun regretted the crisis currently rocking the party he once led, saying there was no future for the party again in the state.
'I've come to bury the PDP, not to praise it," the Ikorodu political heavy weight declared while receiving the AC flag.
While alleging that the PDP problem began immediately after he handed over the mantle of leadership to his successor in 1999, he added that the party would never rise as long as it was being run by 'political undertakers known for their selfishness."
Bashorun commended governor, Babatunde Fashola in moving the state forward.
resigned from the PDP in May and joined the mandate group caucus within AC in June.
He declared his loyalty to the AC, pledging his readiness to serve at any capacity. He however stressed that he was not in the new party for what he would eat, but to join the progressives in their bid to move the party forward. 'I was in the PDP for an objective and having accomplished it, I had to leave" he said noting that his primary objective of joining the PDP at its inception was to ensure a Yorubaman became the president of the country in 1999.
Commending Bashorun's courage to leave the PDP, a party he described as heartless and inhuman, Tinubu said Bashorun's membership of the AC was an home-coming.
Tinubu said himself and Bashorun had come a long way in progressive polities, noting that they were together in the defunt Social Democratic Party (SDP) where they worked for the presidential aspiration of late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola.
Earlier, the party also commissioned its website, which was donated by its United Kingdom chapter. Tinubu described the feat as commendable, stating that it would enhance effective communication for the party members across the world.