Months after collecting Jeep, Oloko defects to APC

*…As group asks him to return vehicle, cites lack of integrity*

A prominent PDP chieftain and influential Ibadan Mogaji, Abass Oloko, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, months after receiving a vehicle gift from the Oyo State Government.

Oloko announced his resignation while speaking with journalists from New York, United States, on Thursday.

Oloko dismissed speculations linking him with the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, stressing that he had never joined the party and that the reported PDP/APM alliance does not align with his political ideology.

“I have resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party. I have also not joined the APM, as being speculated in some quarters. The PDP/APM alliance does not conform to my political ideology,” he said.

Sources close to the politician confirmed that he has now moved to the APC, after earlier declining to disclose his next political destination.

Meanwhile, a group loyal to Governor Seyi Makinde, Seyi Makinde’s Vanguard, has asked Oloko to return the brand new Jeep he recently collected from the governor, citing lack of integrity.

In a statement signed by its Coordinator, Mogaji Aliyu Abass, the group described Oloko as “a political jobber without any structure, but a rabble-rouser searching for what to eat.”

It noted that Oloko had never been regarded as one of the most influential political figures within the PDP in Ibadan, nor as someone with a formidable political structure in the state.

“Why would someone like Abass Oloko betray the hands that fed him to the extent of collecting a brand new Jeep from Governor Makinde? This shows a lack of integrity and an unclear conscience,” the group said.

It added that there are still many loyal party members and leaders who deserve such opportunities, “and not someone like Abass Oloko who has traded his conscience for a plate of jollof rice.”

The group, however, dismissed insinuations that Oloko’s exit would affect the PDP/APM alliance ahead of the 2027 general elections, saying his defection would have no impact on the party’s strength in Ibadan and Oyo State.