Barely twenty-four hours before the governorship and state house of assembly election, the Labour Party in Ogun State has gone into an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party.
The party’s alliance was said to have targeted at the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Dapo Abiodun who is seeking a second term.
A faction of the Labour Party had endorsed Abiodun’s second-term ambition.
But, the caretaker committee set up by the national leadership has faulted the endorsement.
The Labour Party caretaker committee however, in a statement issued on Friday by the Publicity Secretary of the Caretaker Committee of the party in the state, Tokunbo Peters, announced the governorship candidate of the PDP, Ladi Adebutu as the party’s choice.
The party said it chose the PDP among the parties that were making overtures to it.
According to the party, many parties were making overtures to it, following its strong showing at the last election in the state.
The Labour Party explained that it chose the PDP because the manifesto, mission and ideology of the PDP were similar to that of the party.
The statement read, “This last-minute alliance which was consolidated Thursday with the signing of a working agreement between the chairmen and gubernatorial candidates of the two parties in Abeokuta was mostly necessitated by the failure of INEC to list the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party to contest tomorrow’s gubernatorial election.
“After the strong showing of the Labour Party in Ogun State in the last presidential election, the party became the beautiful bride and a lot of parties, including the ruling party, made overtures to Labour Party for either an endorsement or an alliance.
“But after careful consideration of all its options, the Labour Party decided to align with the PDP.
“The choice of the PDP was informed by the fact that the manifesto, mission and ideology of the PDP were similar to that of the Labour Party.
“The gubernatorial candidate of the PDP Hon Ladi Adebutu shares the same vision of running a populist, prudent and all-inclusive government just like Kehinde Sogunle, the Labour Party candidate.
“The Labour Party is committed to the agenda of rescuing, resetting and renewing Ogun State and has a firm belief that its collaboration with PDP will achieve the set goals of bequeathing purposeful government to the traumatised citizens of the state.”
