Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)<\/a>, and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).\n<\/p>\nThe defectors said they joined Accord to be part of a \u201cpeople-led mass coalition\u201d to challenge the dominance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.\n<\/p>\n
The defectors were led by Mr Robert Sowore of the Labour Party (LP), a retired banker and financial consultant.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking at the reception ceremony in the Alimosho area of the state, Sowore, who said he moved into Accord with over 1,000 followers, described the party as the most credible platform for building a broad-based political movement in the state.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAccord is the ideal platform for a people-led coalition that will drive a political tsunami in Lagos State.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers are there. The will of the people is there.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are starting from Alimosho, which is the political capital of Lagos, to take back the state for the people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
He argued that dislodging the APC in the state required what he called \u201ca mass coalition of Lagosians rather than a coalition of elites.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The politician added that Accord remained the only political space capable of midwifing such a movement.<\/p>\n
Also speaking, Mr Olatunde Ibrahim, a former APC senatorial aspirant and tax consultant, said he was ready to deploy his professional experience in support of the coalition.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI have consulted for the six state governments in the South-West. I am prepared to bring my skills, knowledge and expertise to this project.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI already advised the party to set up a Research and Social Development Committee. This will help to drive evidence-based policy and people-centred programmes,\u201d Ibrahim said. <\/p>\n
Mr Mayowa Odeyingbo, a technology specialist and consultant, who also defected from the APC, said his decision was driven by what he described as Accord\u2019s clear ideological positioning.\n<\/p>\n
Odeyingbo said: \u201cI have been in the PDP and later the APC. I have discovered that most parties in Nigeria are left-leaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccord is the only centre-right party with a people-centred ideology. It takes care of the rich and the poor, the literate and the illiterate, the connected and the common man.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Among those who also joined the party were Mr Mayor David, a former LP State House of Assembly candidate from the AA; Mr Folajimi Babatunde from NNPP, and Mr Ismael Elegbede from AAC\n<\/p>\n
Messrs Omoseebi Imole, a realtor; Olaolu Otuyalo, a retired DSS officer, Pastor Alfred Gideon, Anthony Usman and Olawuyi Isaac, all also joined from PDP.\n<\/p>\n
Some defectors from APC included Messrs Olaoluwa Ogundairo, Obi-Wan Chiwendu, Shola Afolabi,and Sunday Lucas .\n<\/p>\n
Receiving the defectors, the State Chairman of Accord, Mr Dele Oladeji, said the party was honoured by the \u201cpolitical weight and pedigree\u201d of those joining its fold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am truly honoured and humbled by the political mileage, status, precedents and career credentials of our new members,\u201d Oladeji said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAccord is a party of the masses. We have no godfather here. This is a conducive political space where everyone can grow and flourish.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who aspire to public office will get the party\u2019s ticket on the basis of capacity and merit,\u201d Oladeji said.\n<\/p>\n
NAN reports that the event marked one of the single largest inflows of defectors into the Accord Party in Lagos in recent times.\n<\/p>\n
Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, recently dumped the PDP and joined the Accord Party<\/a> to seek re-election in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Accord Party in Lagos State on Monday received a group of politicians and professionals, who recently defected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[12063,12064,2093,122,4969,1086],"class_list":{"0":"post-18932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nigeria","8":"tag-labourparty","9":"tag-accord-party","10":"tag-lagos","11":"tag-nigeria","12":"tag-nnpp","13":"tag-pdp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}