Less than three weeks to the Osun State governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lost one of its top chieftains, Colonel Olayiwola Talabi (rtd), who defected with hundreds of his supporters to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The defection which took place at Ikire also saw the flag bearer of the PDP, Senator Iyiola Omisore, pledging to implement immediate anti- poverty measures if elected governor in the August 9 governorship poll.
Announcing his defection, Talabi told a large crowd at the rally that he quits the APC because of its anti- people policies and the marginalisation of local leaders in favour of Lagos based political actors.
Lamenting the failure of the Aregbesola government to positively touch the lives of the people, Talabi said he could no longer explain to the people the many failures of the government to fulfil its promises to the people of the state.
According to him: “I quit because I am fed up with servitude, with failed promises, with anti- people programmes, and with bad leadership. I am now convinced that Senator Iyiola Omisore is the right man to take the state out of the present mess and rebuild it from the destruction witnessed under the APC governorship.”
Meanwhile,the governorship candidate of the PDP, Senator Omisore, lamented the deepening poverty crisis rocking Osun State, wondering why the people should be suffering in the midst of abundance.
Responding to the Lamentations of town people during the rally, the governorship candidate said he empathised with the hard time the people of the state are passing through, attributing the situation to capital flight occasioned by the poor policies of the APC government.
According to Omisore, “the penchant of the APC government to service its Lagos cronies has killed the local economy, impoverish the people and stifled their means of livelihood. We will boost the local economy, enhance the livelihoods of the people and implement anti-poverty programme.”
He assured those who decamped into the party that what sent them out of the APC will not happen in the PDP, explaining that a PDP government under his leadership will be people-centred and people-oriented.
