BY DAYO JOHNSON
AKURE- The reconciliation effort of the embattled Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo suffered a  major setback weekend as a two term Senator, Senator Hosea Ehinlanwo and former Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Youth and Students Matters Mr. Kolade Akinjo, defected to the ruling,  Labour Party, LP with their supporters.

Chieftains of the PDP led thousand others in Ilaje Local Government to join the LP, saying the achievements of  Dr Olusegun Mimiko-led administration in the last two and half years were unprecedented.

Notable PDP chieftains that decamped include the Aro of Ugbo Kingdom High Chief Titus Obele, Chief Cladius Omogbemi and Chief Ogoru.

They were led by Senator Hosea Ehinlanwo who said that their coming to LP was a fulfillment of their desire to contribute to the development of the State and identify with a party that believes in internal democracy and welfare of its members.

He said that he had been friend of the LP from time and decided to formally join the party because of the leadership prowess and political maturity displayed by Governor Olusegun Mimiko since he took over the leadership of the State.

Receiving the decampees, Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi assured them that the party would not differentiate new members from the old ones.

Meantime, the Ondo State Government weekend called on the Federal Government to ban the exportation of coppers  in order to check the spate of vandalism of transformers in the country.

Chairman of the State Electricity Board,OSEB,Mr Sola Akinsanmi who spoke during an inspection of some new installations in Akure, said many communities in the  country were denied power  supply because of vandalism of electrical equipment in their areas.

Acording to him, “the major problem we have now is the rising rate of vandalism of electrical installations in different areas of this state, particularly the armoured cables which are major components of transformers. Desperate vandals are now on the prowl, targeting new installations and stealing the cables.

It was the handiwork of these copper exporters. Where did they get the copper they have been exporting from? After all there is no single copper deposit in Nigeria. Their modus operandi was to attack transformers, remove the cables and melted it with other scraps for exportation to another country.”