A former Chief Whip of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Sunday Akinniyi, on Tuesday defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, Akinniyi said he left the PDP due to Governor Ayodele Fayose’s alleged high-handedness and disrespect for top leaders of the party.
He said this had led to internal crisis and mass defection of influential members to the opposition.
A former Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly, Ebenezer Alagbada, representing Ise/Orun Constituency, announced his defection last week.
Akinniyi identified the alleged maltreatment of the Olukere of Ikere, Oba Ganiyu Obasoyin, by Fayose over his quest for recognition as a king as one of the reasons he left the PDP.
He alleged that he had been humiliated and threatened on the floor of the House by Fayose’s agents many times just because he raised issues that bordered on the welfare of his people.
He said: “Governor Fayose said I should bring Olukere to him, which I did.
“He promised that he will ask the council of traditional rulers to go to Olukere’s palace and examine the place and make recommendations on how best they can recognise his stool, which they did.”
Akinniyi, who is representing the Ikere Constituency 2, was on June 13, 2018 suspended for alleged terrorism and for sleeping during plenary in the last three years.
He was also barred from the vicinity of the Assembly complex.
The Clerk of the Assembly was directed to lodge a formal complaint of the threat to lives of members against him to security agencies.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Dr. Samuel Omotoso, said the suspension followed a series of allegations levelled against him by the Leader of Business, Tunji Akinleye.
