Abayomi Tella, Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, says many politicians who left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress are being treated as outsiders in their new party. He made the remarks in a media interview on Thursday.
Tella said those who moved to the APC were not part of the party when it built its base, and so they are not fully accepted. He noted that some leaders, including the immediate past PDP state chairman Sikirulai Ogundele and others, left for the APC in July 2025.
“It is no longer enviable for a politician to cross from PDP to APC because most of our members who have gone there (APC) have become onlookers. They were not part of their system from day one.
“When the members of the party were working for their victory the defectors were not there, so they will still be treated as outsiders,” Tella said.
Tella added that the PDP remains open to welcoming back key figures such as Governor Dapo Abiodun, Senator Gbenga Daniel and former Governor Ibikunle Amosun. He said the current disagreement between Abiodun and Daniel in the APC gives the PDP a chance to win them back.
“Part of politics is rift, and PDP gaining from it is also part of politics. We will begin to look at areas where the PDP can gain from the ongoing rift between Dapo Abiodun and OGD, because Dapo Abiodun may not likely get his senatorial ticket from the APC. Maybe this rift will help us in luring Dapo Abiodun back to the PDP so that we can rehabilitate him for him to fit into the ideologies of PDP.
“If it is OGD that we can lure back into PDP, he is welcome. We will gladly harvest him back into the party because he is already a good breed.
“It will also be a plus for us to harvest Amosun back into PDP because we know bringing people like OGD, Abiodun, and Amosun into PDP is a big win for the party. The three of them are from this party, but it’s ambition that drove them away.
“We will begin to work immediately on the rift between Abiodun and OGD to ensure that PDP gains from it. They don’t need to be fighting in APC when they can just come to PDP where they left.”
On the party’s strength in the state, Tella said the PDP is strong and will endure. He stressed the party’s resilience and ongoing work to keep supporters united.
“PDP is here to stay. The party can never die. If you try to kill it today, it will resurrect tomorrow. We are making frantic efforts to keep our people together,” he said.
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