Osun

Defection: Odeyemi Threatens Recall Against Oke, Challenges Him To Resign And Test His Popularity

ByOlamilekan Adigun

PublishedMay 6, 2025

You’re A Political Marchant With No Electoral Value – Lawmaker Fires Back

A former National Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Diran Odeyemi, has joined the call for the House of Representative member representing Ijesa North (Obokun/Oriade) to resign and contest a fresh election under his new party.

OSUN DEFENDER reports that Oke recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, under which he was elected as a lawmaker five times.

Since his defection, there have been calls from chieftains and members of the PDP for Oke to resign from his current position and contest under his new political party to test his popularity.

Joining the calls, Odeyemi, in a statement on Monday, also vowed to initiate a recall process against Oke if he fails to resign.

“We thank him. But on behalf of the PDP leaders of thought, I want to challenge him to resign his current mandate, which ends in 2027.

“He should ask INEC to conduct fresh elections in our federal constituency and test his popularity under another political platform,” he said.

Odeyemi dismissed the significance of Oke’s departure, stating that the PDP had not lost a valuable asset in the constituency.

“The coming months will reveal his true worth to his new friends. Voters are prepared to take action. Rather, we gain more by offloading political liability dragging us back,” he added.

But in a swift reaction, the campaign office of the lawmaker dismissed Odeyemi’s statement as an empty threat without any substance.

The campaign office described Odeyemi as a political merchant who could not even win his unit during the last election.

The statement read in part, “We are not disturbed by such empty threats. Diran Odeyemi is known more for noise than for actual grassroots support or electoral value. His record shows he brings little more than divisive rhetoric and boasts of political influence he has never demonstrated at the polls

“It is disheartening that Diran Odeyemi, a political merchant devoid of genuine value in his polling unit, would exploit the name of a man blessed by God for recognition.

“He is a paperweight politician who cannot live without recourse to crumbs from political officeholders within and outside his hometown.

“Therefore, we throw the challenge right back to him: if he truly believes in his own words and claims to represent the will of the people, let him proceed to initiate the recall process against Hon. Wole Oke. We are confident that the people who have repeatedly trusted Hon. Oke with their mandate will once again affirm their choice.

Olamilekan Adigun

Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.