A former Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to Rauf Aregbesola, Nigeria’s Minister of Interior has debunked reports on social media that he has defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Semiu Okanlawon, in a personally signed statement obtained by the media, said his response was necessitated by the rumour that has continued to gather momentum, adding that it started as a joke from a stalwart from the opposition party.
Okanlawon who was a former Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy under Rauf Aregbesola’s as former governor disclosed that he had initially thought the news was a mere online joke from a PDP member, dismissing it as a prank.
He explained that the rumour was gradually taking a life of its own and he was prompted to act fast because as the days rolled by he was getting a barrage of calls and messages to confirm the authenticity of the viral message from both the leaders of the APC and PDP where he had friends.
The former spokesperson maintained that he remained a committed APC member as there is no circumstances that is strong enough to make alter his decision.
In his words, “No matter what the party may be experiencing, I remain an APC member and I am not decamping to the PDP because it is my conviction that things will be straightened out.
Okanlawon acknowledged that the current impasse in the Osun APC, Okanlawon was a sad development that had created rooms for all manner of calculations but reiterated that the party had a pact with the people of the state as espoused under the administration of former governor Rauf Aregbesola.
“Even in the face of temporary setbacks for the party in Osun, I am consoled by the fact that till date, our people are still celebrating the sterling performance of the Aregbesola administration.
“I served for eight years as the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy and later as Special Adviser, Information and Strategy under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, I am a living witness to the unprecedented development the Governor brought to the State.”
He noted that the party had brought unprecedented development to Osun and all that was required is for it to continue to build on the successes recorded instead of embarking on needless internal wranglings which have birthed several unfounded rumours.
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