Former Minister of State for Interior, Mr. Demola Seriki, the Vice Chairman and Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Tunde Salau and Dr. Wale Ahmed, on Sunday dumped the party to formally join the Action Congress of Nigeria.



At the ceremony in Lagos, which attracted no fewer than 3, 000 supporters of the former PDP chieftains, an elated leader of the ACN, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Babatunde Fashola, said their decision to dump the opposition PDP for the ruling party in the state was a big boost that was coming barely a week to the commencement of the general elections.



Seriki, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, said their decision to join the ACN was based on the conviction that the Lagos PDP was in a shambles with problems that were irreconcilable.



However, the Secretary of the Lagos PDP, Mr. Tunji Shelle, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, said the former minister and all other defectors were deceitful members of the party.



The former minister lost to the governorship candidate of the PDP, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, during the party’s primaries in January.



Seriki said, “The problem in the Lagos PDP has defied solution. Imagine, with just one week to the commencement of April general elections, the candidate of the party is still at the lowest ebb of political performance. Since our primaries, I have never been invited for any meeting, not even when President Goodluck Jonathan requested for a meeting with the party leaders.



“If they do not want us, we have to move on. I have never seen any leadership of a party that lacks coordination like that of the Lagos PDP at the moment. We are joining the ACN because of our desire to make Lagos better.”



Seriki noted that he had been a dedicated member of the PDP since 1999, adding that those referring to himself and others as deceitful were in the PDP because of money.



On his part, the former Publicity Secretary of the Lagos PDP said he was happy to join the ACN because he would no longer have to cook up lies to defend the party.



In a related development, a group within the PDP, the Social Reformers Group, has also dumped the party.



Speaking with journalists in Lagos, the leader of the group, Chief Adekunle Oshinoiki, said few days ago, he had to call a meeting of the leadership of the group across the state and “when we spoke, we decided that the time had come for us to bid the PDP goodbye.



“So we decided that we are no more in the PDP but we are not going to join any party now.



“We have to stay on our own and consolidate our position, strengthen our position and also strengthen our philosophy in such a way that it should be well entrenched in all the local governments where we exist.



“That is our position. We are no more in the PDP or any other party, we remain the Social Reformers Group.”







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