Ex- Minister of Works Adeseye Ogunlewe has stated the steps he took, and the motivation, including the 2023 presidency, that propelled him out of the PDP into the APC.
And he doesn’t care what the former party says.
‘’I have no regrets dumping the PDP. I feel at home in APC, it is a better party with good plans for Nigerians,’’ he told NAN on Saturday.
The former minister said he gave the PDP 30 days to resolve the leadership crisis in the party, otherwise he would join the APC.
‘’I dumped PDP days after the expiration of the ultimatum as the leadership crisis persisted.
‘’I have no regrets leaving a party without a chairman, and as I speak to you, I feel at home in the APC.
According to him, the PDP has no chairman in Lagos chapter of the party.
”I can’t stay in such a party. I have moved to the next level. I am now in the fold of the progressives where I truly belong,” he said.
The former minister said he had always been what he called a progressive, adding he had at various times been in the defunct Action Group (AG), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Action Congress (AC).
‘’These were political parties for the progressives and people of like minds,” Ogunlewe said.
The former minister disclosed that he became a senator on the platform of AD, adding that he was glad to be re-united with his old colleagues most of whom were now bigwigs in APC.
He said apart from the crisis in the PDP, his decision to join APC was also influenced by President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent posture on governance.
Ogunlewe said Buhari’s implementation of the direct allocation of funds to local governments and the honour done to the late MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 elections, were remarkable.
”One is beginning to see the voice of the progressives in Mr President; he is doing gradually what we have been fighting for.
”The way Nigeria is structured presently is too heavy. The president should restructure the country, without it, we cannot have the kind of progress we want,” the former minister said.
One more reason he joined the APC is because of his belief that the party would zone the presidency to the South West in 2023.
He said if that eventually happens, national leader of the party, Mr Bola Tinubu would be a good choice for Nigerians.
Tinubu, he said, as “a cerebral and visionary politician, possesses the right leadership skills to move the country forward.”