Nobody Can Stop Me From Joining APC If I Want To — Oyo PDP Chieftain, Olopoeyan

A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State, Alhaji Abdul-Rasheed Adebisi Olopoeyan has said that he is free to defect to the All Progressives Congress if he wishes to and that he does not need anyone’s permission to do so.

Olopoeyan who said this while speaking with newsmen over his rumoured defection to APC at his home in Ibadan, the state capital said that no one would dare to stop him neither does he need to consult with anyone if he decides to defect to APC

The politician who was celebrating his 60th birthday said that he could decide to join APC as it is a notable party with influential people but noted that he has no substantial reasons that could make him dump PDP where he has pitched his tent over the years for another party.

Olopoeyan stressed that the internal wranglings in PDP are not sufficient enough to warrant his defection to APC or another party, adding that crises are normal in politics and that is why the stakeholders are not relenting in solving the crises.

He said he had firm belief and assurance in Senator Saraki-led National Reconciliation and Strategy Committee to make things in order in the pacesetter PDP but Governor Seyi Makinde may thwart their efforts because of the previous exercises which ended in futility.

Olopoeyan said that the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde was the architect of crises within the party and the wranglings may exit in the shortest possible time, if the governor is ready for true and genuine reconciliation, adding that the principal officers among the state executives and other notable people are suffering but smiling in disguise

On Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s purported interest in the national chairmanship of the party, Olopoeyan said the former governor of Osun State can’t be national chairman like that, he needs to go through the normal processes and procedures before his public contest at the national convention where the accredited delegates will decide who will lead the party.

On alleged statement credited to Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, the Southwest Chairman of PDP, while he said that those who are aggrieved in the party are paperweight politicians and stakeholders who are seeking favour from Uche Secondus, Olopoeyan responded that Arapaja is a newcomer who has not known the pedigree and political influence of the referred stakeholders, he equally described Arapaja as someone who talks and addresses issues with no substantial facts.

Olopoeyan described Arapaja as someone who is acting the script of Makinde whom he alleged of using the platform of PDP in 2019 and eventually turned himself into a semi-god who dictates who gets what in the party.

He said late Lamidi Ariyibi Adedibu remains his mentor even after death because he had a simple and dynamic mechanism of resolving crises within the party and most importantly on the role he took in the 2003/2004 political tussle of Oyo State.

However, Olopoeyan said that he had regrets over the crisis in connection with the annulment of June 12, 1993, that almost led to his death and also the energy he dissipated to the enthronement of Seyi Makinde in the 2019 general elections was a regretful one.