Akinlaja Inaugurates Registration Committee Members as Key Lawmakers Defect to Labour Party in Ogun State

The deputy national chairman of Labour Party, Hon Joseph Akinlaja has admonished the All Progressive Congress led administration in Ogun State to prepare its handover note, just as he affirmed that the coast is crystal clear for LP in the State to defeat APC in the 2015 gubernatorial polls.

Akinlaja made this declaration at a press conference he addressed on Tuesday August 27, 2013 at the Labour Party secretariat in Adatan, Abeokuta during the inauguration of registration committee members of the party.

''My message to APC led administration in Ogun State is that they should be peaceful, they should allow contest to be like a game so that when we defeat them in 2015 they will accept defeat''. Akinlaja affirmed.

Commenting on his mission to Ogun State LP secretariat, Hon Akinlaja said; ''I am very impressed with the volume of turnout we recorded here today and am going to relay this to the national chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu and all the NEC members of the party that the presence of Labour in Ogun State is very significant and it's a winning ticket for Labour Party come 2015. I said so because this is not a rally, its also not the inauguration of our party in this state, this is just to inaugurate a 4-man registration committee in each of the units, wards, and Local Governments, and also at State level and we witnessed this attendance? I think this is encouraging.''.

Speaking further the deputy national chairman said, ''I am here because of the heavy presence of Labour Party enthusiasts in the state; we want to solidify the structures by starting from the foundation which is the determination of both real and potential Labour Party members in the state to harness them together into a formidable structure that is capable of winning an election. We have met different level of leadership in the State including His Excellency the former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, he subscribed to Labour Party and he is also part of what is happening here today not just him other political heavy weights in the state are also declaring their membership for Labour Party on a daily basis and I see this as a huge achievement for us.''

Also at the event, 7 members of the Ogun State House of Assembly and two others representing the state in the House of Representatives defected to the Labour Party; they are former deputy speaker, Remmy Hassan (Odogbolu State Constituency); Samson Onademuren (Ijebu North East); and Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo (Ifo II), all members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria stormed the inauguration of the membership registration committees of the LP in the state. Other

The mammoth crowd also went into a jubilant mood when they noticed the arrival of party chieftains from the ACN, PPN and the PDP who also attended the event alongside with the governorship candidate of the PPN in the last 2011 guber polls, Mr. Gboyega Nasir Isiaka and the loyalists of former governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

Addressing the members of the party, the Ogun LP State Secretary, Sunday Oginni, corroborated what Hon Akinlaja said earlier, pointing that the emerging coalition was set to dislodge the ruling APC in the state. He described Governor Ibikunle Amosun leadership as lacking human face and competence, adding that the LP would correct the anomalies already noted in the current government in the state come 2015.

The Ogun ACN assembly members were also joined at the LP event by their Peoples Party of Nigeria colleagues in the state legislature, including John Obafemi, Joseph Adegbesan and Salmon Adeleke, representing Remo North, Ijebu North II and Imeko Afon state constituencies, respectively. Also at the inauguration of the LP membership registration committees was another assembly member, Abiodun Akovoyon, representing Ipokia Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. The nine Ogun Assembly members were in company with two members of the federal House of Representatives from the state, Abiodun Akinlade and Razaq Adewusi, respectively representing Ipokia/Yewa South and Imeko Afon/Yewa North Federal constituencies on the platform of the defunct ACN and PPN.

Emmanuel Ajibulu is Press Secretary to Hon Joseph Akinlaja