Former governor of Ekiti State, Peter Ayodele Fayose, has described defectors from one political party to the other as "armed robbers".
Fayose said this while declaring that he remained a PDP member and he will never defect to any other party the way some leaders have done.
The governor of Ebonyi state, David Umahi, had left the Peoples Democratic Party PDP for APC, citing injustice as the reason for his defection.
But Fayose said, “if we are fighting in PDP, let us fight it inside PDP. People who have been jumping ship are armed robbers.
"They are being driven by greed and inordinate ambition. These are indications of the type of leaders we have in our country who are without ideology. They go for only what they feel would benefit them. Governor Umahi’s joining APC after benefiting several positions in PDP was unprincipled. We do not accept the excuses given by the governor. I am not satisfied with some things in PDP, but, leaving the party will not equally solve the problems.”
Fayose, who described Ajayi as a force to reckon with in the politics of Ondo State, said he would thrive better politically in a mainstream and liberal political party like the PDP. Agboola, who, in the build-up to the October governorship election in Ondo State, dumped the APC for the PDP and later abandoned the PDP for the Zenith Labour Party to contest the governorship election, had been a House of Representatives member under PDP.
The ex-governor made the call when the deputy governor visited the former in his Afao-Ekiti country home late Friday night to celebrate with him on his 60th birthday. In a statement issued by his media aide, Lere Olayinka and made available to newsmen yesterday, Fayose called on Agboola to return to the PDP and join hands with other leaders in Ondo to rebuild the party.
“It is important for him (Agboola Ajayi) to put the past behind, return to PDP and join hands with other leaders in the state to rebuild the party. What I can tell you like a brother is that the past should be put behind you and the future should be focused on realistically. The best option before you now is to return to the PDP and I am encouraging you to give it a consideration because you need the party and the party too needs a strong political character like you,” Fayose said.
He also assured that all the raging crises between him and other leaders of the party in Ekiti and the Southwest region would be resolved in the overall interest of the PDP. “There is nothing to worry about. If Governor Seyi Makinde and I have issues, Nigerians should not worry themselves about that. I was the one who went to flag off Governor Makinde campaign in Ogbomoso.
"Whether he is backing Senator Olujimi or not, the fact remains that the struggle for the control of party’s structures in Ekiti has come and gone. So why do we have to fight over spilled milk? We won the congresses, but they are in court, if the court says it’s Olujimi that is right, we would follow her and if the court says she has no case, they should join us so that we can move the party forward,” he added.