This decision arose after a period of consultation with major stakeholders in Ondo State, which include the aforementioned as well as traditional and religious leaders, market men and women, artisans, trade unions and community as well as party leaders.
I must confess that it surely was tempting and perhaps more fulfilling to continue as a national leader in our smaller, calmer and quite promising ocean represented by the Labour Party. But this decision to return to the PDP, we have taken in the overall interest of our people and our nation, and its democracy which for those who are perceptive enough to notice, is now mortally endangered by a constellation of forces which must be confronted. May I then add, that we take this epochal decision conscious of the fact that no political party in Nigeria today is anywhere near the point of perfection. But we are persuaded that joining hands with other Nigerians, committed as they are at repositioning the PDP on a continual basis, is the appropriate thing to do today. And considering that it was under this same PDP that I was privileged to serve, first as Secretary to the Government of Ondo State and later as Minister of Housing and Urban Development from July 2005 – December 2006, this is for us a homecoming of sort.
I thank President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, for making this choice so compelling by the way and manner he has used power and supported democracy these past years. I thank the leadership of our party, the PDP, for their doggedness. I today make a solemn pledge to join hands with you all our esteemed leaders in persuading other Nigerians to re-elect our President for a second and most deserving term.
Dr. Olusegun Mimiko’s speech as he formally declared for the PDP on October 2, 2014, in Abuja. [eap_ad_3]