Accord party Board of Trustees Member, Rev. I.T Adeniyi, PDP Governorship Candidate Mr. Jimi Agbaje, his Running Mate, Mrs. Haleemat Busari and PDP Party Chairman, Dr. Adebola Dominic, yesterday at the Airport Hotel, where about 20,000 members APC decamped to the Accord party and adopted Agbaje as Governorship Candidate
The candidate of Accord, Engineer Joseph Ola Beckley on Thursday said he was standing down for Jimi Agbaje, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the governorship election in Lagos State.
Beckley who came in company of other defections from the 20 Local Governments of the state announced his defection at a carnival-like ceremony at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, where Agbaje, his running Mate, Mrs. Haleemat Oluwayemisi Busari, recently defected former Lagos State Commissioner for Power, Mr. Wale Oluwo, former Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Alhaji Rahman Owokoniran and PDP Lagos Chairman, Dr. Adegbola Dominic, received them.
Addressing a crowd of faithful, Ajayi stated,
“The reason for the defection of our members is not farfetched. We are all living witnesses to how the APC conducted its primaries to pick its candidate. You will agree with me that the process was far from being free and fair to all members of the party.”
“You can imagine the treatment that they gave our amiable Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. What happened to the Governor is rather unprecedented. It has never happened before that a sitting Governor would be prevented from getting a second term.
“When the people asked, the excuse they gave was that although the man worked, he didn’t do well as a party man. The question now is: Was Ambode not a party man before they picked him as the party’s candidate in 2015? We are tired of this high level of impunity in the APC and we have opted to leave the party for them.
“Today, we are pitching our tent with Accord Party with our supporters and candidates for all elected offices with the exception of the governorship because we are endorsing PDP’s Jimi Agbaje,” he said.
On his part, a member of the Accord Party’s Board of Trustees, Rev. Isaac Adeniyi, while welcoming the defectors into the party said the event was an epoch-making one in the history of political development of the state.
According to Adeniyi, with the resolve of the teeming members of the APC to join the ranks of the state, the rescue of Lagos State from the vice-like grips of one man had been secured, saying, all stakeholders in both the party and the PDP must work to ensure that the objective was achieved.
Commenting on the development, a visibly elated Agbaje said the task of rescuing the state had moved into higher gear with the defectors’ action.
Agbaje said: “I am happy to be here today to be part of this epoch-making event. The task of rescuing the state is not about me but about the need to protect our collective commonwealth from the hands of one man.
“Looking at the number of people here today, only a myopic politician would discountenance the worth and calibre of people in this hall.
