Notwithstanding the reported defection of ex-Oyo State Governor, Chief Rasheed Ladoja, to his former party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Lagos State chapter of Accord Party said on Friday that the defection might be a ruse.
“The party is still sceptical about the report that Ladoja has left its fold.
“The same way you (the reporter) read the report of the defection of Chief Ladoja is the same way we read it too.
“Because we do not want to believe it because he has not officially communicated to anyone that he is leaving the party,” Chief Gbenga Kool, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Ladoja, along with Mr Seyi Makinde, a chieftain of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Oyo State, reportedly announced their defection to the PDP in Ibadan on Thursday during a reconciliation visit by the PDP National Caretaker Chairman, ex-governor, Ahmed Makarfi.
Ladoja was quoted as saying that he was “returning home” and it was not his wish to leave the party (PDP) when he did.
“I left the PDP because of the injustice done to me some years ago; we are back now because the new leadership has promised to right the wrongs and avoid the mistakes of the past.”
But Kool said in spite of the statement credited to Ladoja, he believed Ladoja was still in their fold.
He said there were procedures for leaving a party and that Ladoja had not officially told anyone in the Accord Party that he had left.
Kool also told NAN that he had made inquiries about the defection across the state chapters and the national secretariat and that “no one confirmed the intent to leave from Ladoja”.
“This is not even the first time it will be reported that he has left the party and he is with us.
“For now, we believe he is still in our fold because no one can confirm officially he has left. He is our father, so if he is leaving, we need to know.
“But in case he has left, I do not see that weakening the party because Accord is built on strong foundations and not around personalities,” he said.
Kool described the former governor as a strong member, whose influence was instrumental to the successes of the party.
On the July 22 Lagos Council polls, he said the elections were as marred by irregularities, insisting “Accord Party would have done better than the three councillorship seats the electoral declared that it won if the elections were free and fair.”
“That is why we will be going to the election tribunal to challenge some of the results in order to get justice,” he said.
