From Femi Mustapha, in Kaduna
Leaders and members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Osun State, on Wednesday, defected to the Action Alliance (AA) in the state.
This was contained in a statement made available to the media in Kaduna, today.
The statement stated that the defectors who were until recently, executive members of the party at both ward, local government and state levels, were led by the state secretary of the SDP, Comrade Yinka Oni, and pledged their loyalty to AA.
This is even as the state chapter of the SDP gave its office to the AA and turned the structure of the party to that of the party (AA).
The office located in the Ogo Oluwa area of Osogbo, the state capital was used by the SDP before but the former executives of the party announced that the office has been changed to the state secretariat of the AA henceforth, with banners of the AA already erected on the building.
The leader of the defectors, Yinka Oni said the decision to leave the SDP alongside other leaders of the party in the state was as a result of the belief of the defectors in the leadership of the AA.
Oni noted that the SDP is dead in the state with the defection, adding that those who made the party functional have all left for the AA with their teeming supporters spread across all the 30 Local Government Areas of the state.
Receiving the defectors at the new secretariat of the AA, the national chairman of the party, Hon Adekunle Rufai Omoaje assured the defectors of equal opportunity with the old members of the party.
Omoaje who was flanked by the National Vice Chairman (South West) of the party, Hon Joshua Adewole declared that the party would participate actively in all the future elections both in the state and at national levels.
He urged those interested in contesting for various positions in the upcoming local government election in the state not to hesitate in declaring their ambition.
At the meeting, the party announced the formation of a caretaker management committee to take over the affairs of the party and paddle its activities in the state pending the congress of the party.
The members of the caretaker management committee include Mr. Kazeem Araoye (Chairman), Femi Johnson (Deputy Chairman), Yinka Oni (Secretary), Akorede Funmilayo (Women Leader), Sunday Oyedele, (Publicity Secretary), Tunde Salako (Organizing Secretary), Oyelami Adeyemi (Treasurer), Kunle Akinbiyi (Financial Secretary) and Azeez Kehinde (Welfare Officer).
