Defection Tales: Kayode Salako Debunks Allegation, As He Denies Being Tinubu’s Mole In Labour Party

By Frank Oshanugor

Sequel to some wild allegation in the political space that the Lagos State Labour Party Chairman, Mr. Ezekiel Kayode Salako is a mole of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Salako has vehemently debunked the allegation in strong terms, saying that he still remains the Chairman of the Party in the state, and a committed supporter of the Obi-dient Movement.

In a brief chat with the media on Monday, Salako said he had not defected to the APC but remains an unapologetic member of Labour Party as he never contempleted of defecting to APC or any other party for that matter, and has no intention now, or in the near future of leaving the Labour Party.

According to him, the news of his purported defection “is baseless, mischievous and the handiwork of his traducers,” who are already jittery of the impacts he has made with Lagos State Labour Party setup within a short space of time, and further reechoed it loud and clear that he is unfazed with such uninvestigated, and fictitious reports that only exists in the imaginations of the fabricators.

Salako’s statement coming after his return from the 2-day National Leaders/Stakeholders Retreat of the party in Abuja reads in parts thus:

“I came back on Friday, September 16 from the Abuja retreat to preside over the meeting of the State Working Committee (SWC) of my party in the state.

“We were in the meeting for almost seven hours. We couldn’t finish treating all the issues on the agenda on that day after 8pm in the evening.
We extended the meeting to Saturday, and I still presided over that of Saturday for about another five hours.

“On Sunday, I went to attend the meeting of the elders/leaders advisory council of the party, which I gave approval to, for its running, since I became the chairman of the party in the state.

“On Monday, September 19, 2022, which is this morning, I will be in a meeting with the Lagos State commissioner of police on his invitation.

“After the meeting, I will be accompanying His Excellency Peter Gregory Obi to a program he is having around Lekki here in Lagos.

“But, the news of my purported defection to APC, has been flying around since the same Friday morning from social media propagandists, enemies of the outstanding progress I am achieving for my party in the state right now.

“How would I have defected and, at the same time, still be running the Labour Party system in the state. That is not true, and can never be true.

“Olukayode Salako is a flowing river. When I am operating in a place, I operate committedly, passionately and with all sincerity of purpose there, and don’t ever look back.Those who know me, they know me for who I am.” He said.

While reacting to insinuations of being a mole of Tinubu in some social media quarters, he said “I am not a mole to Tinubu system in the Labour Party, and can never be. Bola Tinubu’s APC system anywhere knows.

“They know in their conscience of conscience that I am not a mole, and can never be.
I have left that party, just like many Nigerians, who now find my party very attractive, and have been coming to join the party in droves as well.

“As I speak, over 60% of the members of the Labour Party also came in from different political platforms, the same way I came. If nobody is accusing anybody else of being a mole to anybody, then Salako too should be spared of all these distractive tendencies.

“His Excellency, Peter Obi and Dr. Doyin Okupe, his national campaign DG, also recently joined Labour party around the same time I also came. And many others like that.

“I reiterate, I am not a mole to anybody in the Labour Party, and can never be. I don’t operate politically with such kind of a shameless, vague and undignifying character.

“God has made me a king in the Lagos Labour Party system already, as the chairman of the party. What then would I still be looking for in a place, where I voluntary left out of my own volition?!

“What else would I still be looking for in a Tinubu political system, where I operated for 22 years, without finding fulfillment?

“They said I have left Labour Party to go back to APC.To leave as a king in Labour Party to go and become what in APC Never!

“That can ever be from Olukayode Salako! I am a man of dignity and integrity. I am a man of strong character. I am a highly principled man.

I don’t have to operate like that. My mission as the chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State is to make my party the next ruling party in the state.

“How can I possibly be operating with that kind of a mission, and still be working as a mole for Tinubu or APC? Do they ever tally?

“I am not a mole to Tinubu, or any presidential candidate whatsoever in the coming presidential election in Nigeria. It is not in the nature and character of my DNA to operate like that.

“I am still the chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State, and I am ever consistently OBI-DIENTLY Labour in the passionate, committed and the most classical way.

“I repeat, my utmost mission is to continue to run Labour Party well, and to do it to win my state for Peter Obi, as well as, for the Labour Party to form the next government in Lagos State.” He concluded emphatically.