A Chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye has urged opposition parties to stop blaming President Bola Tinubu for the defection of their members into the ruling party.
Oyintiloye, a member of defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) stated this in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP on Sunday in Osogbo.
The former lawmaker said that rather than blaming the president, members of the opposition parties should look inward and embrace internal democracy in their parties.
Oyintiloye, who noted that political realignment was not a new phenomenon in Nigeria, said the recent wave of defections followed ideological persuasion and not due to coercion as being speculated in some quarters.
He noted that opposition parties were losing members to long existing and unattended internal wrangling that have lasted years.
“So many defectors claimed that they were sidelined, undermined, unfairly treated by their former parties, leaving them with no option but to switch to a party with sustainable transformation agenda.
“This season of political recalibration that is leading to growing number of Nigerian politicians defecting en masse to the ruling APC is an indication that the party has shown courage of being capable to transform the country through the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of the president,” he said.
Oyintiloye added that Tinubu has shown commitment to prioritise national development and creating a more viable platform, addition, “That is winning members into the APC fold.”
He also dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the wave of defections of members of the opposition parties to APC could lead to a one-party system.
“How can the wave of defections to the ruling party lead to one-party system when we still have more than 60 registered political parties in the country?
“Rather than opposition parties blaming the president or ruling party, they must develop a robust strategy to check the trend through better internal democratic process by allowing dissent, transparent primaries, and all inclusive decisions making within the party structure. This will discourage defections of politicians from their various parties,” he charged the opposition parties.
He, however, harped on the need by the ruling party to similarly strengthen internal democracy within its fold to protect the current members and manage the defectors to avoid implosion as a result of the defection.
Oyintiloye also emphasised that those defecting to APC should not be allowed to displace loyal party members who had laboured to build the party over the years.
