The Peoples Democratic Party in Oyo State has said  the party is ready to receive more aggrieved leaders of the All Progressives Congress  following the defection of Joseph Tegbe, a chieftain of the party to the PDP.

The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Mr Akeem Olatunji, said this in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday.

Tegbe, who dumped the APC following the lingering crisis rocking the opposition party in the state.is said to be receiving the backing of Governor Seyi Makinde to contest the senatorial election on the platform of his new party

The PDP spokesman said, ” It’s true Tegbe has joined the PDP. More of them will still come from the APC.

” Joseph Tegbe is  a big fish and we are expecting many more of that from the opposition especially the APC.

“They know the truth and that is why you see politician like that coming. Governor Makinde has done so well and it will be a waste of time contesting against such a performer. The party in less than three years has done more than what they did while in office for eight years.”

But some groups within the APC in the state have said Tegbe’s defection did not come to them as a surprise.

They claimed that he worked for Makinde in 2019 when he failed to pick the APC governorship ticket, and described his exit from the party as good riddance to bad rubbish.

Meanwhile, a socio-political group in Oyo State, the Oyo Kajola Group has described Tegbe’s defection as a huge gain for the PDP and for lovers of good governance in the state.

The OKG, in a statement by its Media Coordinator, Adebayo Ayandele, described efforts by groups within Oyo APC and Tegbe’s new party, PDP, to discredit the politician’s defection as self-serving, face-saving and baseless.

According to the group, Tegbe’s defection from the APC and the party’s reaction through proxies is an indication that the crisis-ridden party was hit hard and that the defection has shown that things have fallen apart in the APC in Oyo State.

The statement read: “We in the Oyo Kajola Group welcome Mogaji Olasunkanmi Tegbe to the PDP, the party that has done a good job of rescuing Oyo State from the abyss that his former party, APC consigned it to for eight years.

“Mogaji Tegbe has demonstrated unmatched courage by leaving the divided Oyo APC and its leaders who behave like bandits, hijacking party structures, raping democracy in broad daylight and doing all sorts of desperate things in an attempt to reclaim power in the state.

“Certainly, Governor Makinde’s beautiful style of politics and the unprecedented good governance he has been providing to the state led to Tegbe’s conversion and we are sure that more people will leave the APC to join PDP as 2023 draws near.”