2019: I remain in APC to support Buhari’s re-election – Gov Amosun

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has restated that he would continue to pursue his political aspiration on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure the re-election of President Mohammadu Buhari in the 2019 general election.

Amosun made this confirmation on Monday at the Presidential Lodge Ibara in Abeokuta while addressing party faithful just as his loyalists, including 26 candidates, who emerged victorious as candidates at the October 2 primaries, to the state House of Assembly seats, announced their movement to the Allied People’s Movement (APM).

The Ogun State Governorship candidate of APC, Adekunle Akinlade, was also announced to have defected to the APM, by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara last week.

The governor at the gathering said his decision to remain in APC was borne out of his unwavering support for President Muhammadu Buhari as well as to protect the rights of those who were robbed of their mandate by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC.

According to him, the people of the state are solidly in support of the president and will vote massively for him in the 2019 Presidential poll, stating however that, his support for the president was not a support for an illegality.

He said: “I am unable to stop those who felt aggrieved by the injustice meted on them by the national leadership of the party, to seek their aspiration on other platforms. My support therefore is for Akinlade and no other governorship candidate, who is in procession of a stolen mandate.

Meanwhile, the aggrieved defectors while announcing their decision said it was in order “to seek the general mandate of our people in the 2019 elections on the platform of the Allied People’s Movement (APM)”.

In his remarks, Mr. Lamidi Muse representing Ado Odo/Ota state constituency on behalf of the 26 candidates, said “as representatives that were duly elected by our people, as candidates for the House of Assembly of Ogun State, we are resolved to protect the mandate freely given to us by our party members.

“We are also determined to prevent the grand design to install a government that would be answerable to foreign forces outside Ogun State”, he added.

Muse however said their decision is without prejudice to the progressive ideals, which have endeared our candidature and our political group to the good people of the State acknowledging that the role of the president in resolving the crisis was frustrated by the forces that are hell-bent in taking the South West back to the Dark Age.

“The people of Ogun State are renowned for successfully ascertaining their independence from such warlords. This instance shall not be different.

We are committed to the second term of President Muhammadu Buhari and we are determined to deliver Ogun State to him in the Presidential election, come February 16, 2019”, Musa added.