By ‘Dotun Akintomide
A serious drama played out Tuesday at the Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ogun State Council in Abeokuta as no fewer than 30 fully armed Policemen of Ogun Command disrupted a press conference by a faction of All Progressives Congress, APC.
The members of the APC faction were announcing their defection to Alliance for Democracy, AD.
The Policemen, it was gathered stormed the Secretariat at exactly 7:26 am and sealed it to prevent the planned press conference by a faction loyal to Senator Solomon Adeola to announce their defection to the AD.
In his reaction, Ogun NUJ Chairman, Wole Sokunbi, who expressed his disappointment in the action said: “Is it a crime for people to express their mind? If the police are here to maintain law and order, fine but to stop press conference, it wouldn’t be allowed.”
The Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Ahmed Iliyasu was reported to have ordered the withdrawal of the detachment from the Secretariat.
Addressing newsmen at the press conference, the APC faction, known as De-Democrats said they were leaving the party to join the AD due to the alleged undemocratic practices of the APC.
Hundreds of members of the All Progressives Congress in the state loyal to Senator Olamilekan Adeola popularly known as Yayi defected to the AD in the state.
The defectors, led by a former APC Senatorial Chairman, Ogun Central, Kunle Adeshina confirmed that Senator Adeola had been excused from the governorship race in Ogun State, adding that members of De-Democrats are moving to the new party to continue their agitation for internal party democracy in the state.
He said: “It is important to state at this point in time that, Senator Solomon Adeola Yayi has decided to excuse himself from the governorship race in order to avoid engineering any crisis in Ogun State APC.
However, we members of De-Democrats are determined to continue our agitation for internal party democracy and majority rule in the politics of Ogun State.
“De-Democrats in Ogun State is an assemblage of APC members, who have been schemed out of the APC activities, due to the undemocratic practices of the party.”
