A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, has said that he has not defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Adebutu, representing Remo North of Ogun State in the House of Representatives on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, said that he had never contemplated joining the ruling APC.
The lawmaker, in a statement on Tuesday by his campaign organization, Lado Media Office, said media reports that he had defected to the APC and had dropped his governorship ambition were not true.
Adebutu stressed that the APC would not even feature as one of the options in considering a new platform to realise his ambition, if there was any need for such a move.
He noted that he would have ignored media reports about his defection to the APC but for the several phone calls received from supporters, visits by eminent citizens and associates seeking clarifications on the rumour as well as the need to set the records straight once again.
The statement reads in part, “The news report raised three main issues which bother on rumoured defection by Honourable Adebutu to APC; rumoured decision to drop his gubernatorial ambition for Senate; and sadly the most wicked attempt to cloak the cerebral, God-fearing politician in a garb of violence.
“Let us state clearly and emphatically that Honourable Oladipupo Adetutu is a Social Democrat and a Humanist, he can choose to express his franchise under any political party of his choice. His major interest is about service and touching the lives of the highest number of people. This is his ultimate goal in politics.
“However, we need to reemphasize once again that joining the All Progressive Congress (APC) is not even a remote option for Hon. Adebutu if he were to consider any other political party where he can actualise his aspirations. The reason for this is clear; the ruling party itself both at the national and State level is troubled at the moment, battling not only with credibility problems with the electorate over several failed electoral promises, but also having its own fair share of crises of confidence among its members.
“It is equally important to restate that Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu’s entire political aspirations are God-driven and people-focussed; as such they are not within the control and manipulation of mere mortals, definitely not even from his detractors or those that are feeling threatened. So, their wild speculation and attempt to de-scale his preference and the Will of God cannot materialize.”
The statement further notes, “Most importantly, the malicious attempt to attach violence to the politics of Honourable Adebutu in the said report is rather unfortunate, wicked and in bad taste. Honourable Adebutu’s brand of politics is people-centred; it fails logic that a man who spends all his years and resources trying to make people happy and uplift a greater number of people out of poverty even at the risk of his own comfort will be painted as one bringing or supporting violence with a potential to export same into a dying political party.
“Since the question of seeking to join the APC did not arise in the first place, the attempt to paint such fearful disposition of bringing violence into the APC itself is unwarranted and uncalled for.
“It will be desirous if the APC will desist from the culture of governance by propaganda. Why would someone who has successfully gained control of a political platform having structures in all the local government council areas and 236 wards of Ogun State relinquish that and become a joiner in a party that is deliberately being dismantled and dismembered by its leaders. We hereby seize the opportunity to welcome all our new members arriving from All Progressive Congress and other political partis, while assureing them that they have arrived on a platform where fairness and equity prevail and genuine participatory democracy thrives.”
