Over 20,000 members of the Omisore Youth Support Forum (OYSF), a political group in Osun State, on Wednesday officially defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), declaring the PDP as their true political home.
The group, which draws its membership from across all local governments in Osun State, was originally formed as a mobilization force for the governorship ambition of former Deputy Governor, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, who had aligned with the APC alongside the Ife born politician, prior to the 2018 governorship election rerun.
At a formal reception held at the PDP State Secretariat in Osogbo, the State Chairman of the PDP, Hon. Sunday Bisi, warmly welcomed the returnees and charged them not to see themselves as strangers, noting that many of them began their political journey in the PDP before being “misled into the den of political devourers.”
He encouraged them to rejoin other youth organs in the party and resume their vital role as a mobilization team for Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke.
Speaking at the event, the state coordinator of the forum, Mr Solomon Fasogbon, described their experience in the opposition as terrible and harrowing, a reality that prompted members of the forum to return to what he called their original base.
Mr Fasogbon praised the administration of His Excellency, Governor Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, describing it as not only people-friendly but one that has reshaped the social and economic landscape of Osun State.
He pledged the group’s unflinching support to the PDP and to the second-term aspiration of Governor Adeleke, stating that “supporting His Excellency’s re-election is the only way to consolidate on the remarkable progress achieved so far under the PDP-led administration.”
Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Right Honorable Lasun Yusuff, who was also at the event, urged the people of the state to remain strong in the face of any intimidation, as the people of Osun State cannot afford to surrender governance of the state to the hands of sterk misfits in the APC, who know and care next to nothing about the future of the state.
The event was witnessed by many stalwarts of the party, including members of the state working committee, members of the state executive council, local government chairmen and party chairmen across all the 30 local governments of the state.
Oladele Bamiji,
Osun PDP Media Director