By Akinwale Kasali
The Crisis rocking the Oyo State People’s Democratic Party, PDP, took another twist, as one of its stalwarts, Senator Kola Balogun, representing Oyo South Senatorial District has defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The Senator who is the younger brother to the New Olubadan of Ibadan, at an event held at the APC State Secretariat, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, on Tuesday, formally joined the APC, collapsing the structure of the PDP in his Senatorial District.
For weeks, Senator Balogun and Governor Seyi Makinde had engaged in a soft war, following allegations that the Governor, who owns the PDP structure in the State was not willing to give the Senator a ticket to return to the Senate for a second term on the platform of the PDP.
At the defection ceremony, Senator Balogun appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, APC loyalists, its leadership and his supporters, the State Party Chairman, Hon Isaac Omodewu, and other Party Executives for accepting him back to the party.
He claimed he had gone to the PDP on sabbatical and now back home.
Berating the Governor Makinde-led administration for the increasing spate of insecurity in the state, Senator Balogun emphasized that hoodlums now kill recklessly daily in the State capital.
“People are being killed every day, yet the governor is not doing anything about it,” he said.
On Makinde’s Light-Up Oyo Project, Senator Balogun said using diesel to power generators to run the streetlights is fraud and a waste of resources.
“They claimed they’re lighting up Oyo State with streetlights. Ask them: whose company is selling the diesel they use to power the generator used to run the street lights? They are just serving their interests,” Balogun stated.
However, commenting on how he got the Senatorial ticket in 2018, Senator Balogun said: “When in 2018, I was given the ticket, I was told it was a delicate one. The party offered Adeniran and Sarafadeen Alli but they rejected it; I received it and God favoured me. Today, those who helped Seyi Makinde to win the election have left him, yet he kept saying ‘no problem,’ but he would soon realize that there are ‘problems.”
Welcoming Senator Balogun into the APC fold, the State Chairman, Hon. Ajiboye Omodewu said APC was lucky to have the three Senators and 11 House of Representatives members in the State, which, according to him, would give the party opportunity to win the 2023 election in the state.
In his comment at the event, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari said the coming of Senator Balogun into the APC would foster unity and enhance collaboration among federal lawmakers.
He, however, tasked the party members to unite and ensure they work for the emergence of the party in the next election.
With the defection of Senator Balogun, the ruling PDP in the state, led by Governor Makinde’s administration, has no elected representative in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
