Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, on Wednesday, resigned his membership from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The letter which was personally signed by the former governor and addressed to the leadership of the party in the state, stating his intention to resign his membership from the party.

The read “I hereby with utmost humility inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the PDP with effect from today, June 13, 2018, for some well-thought-out personal reasons.

“It was an honour working the many prominent Nigerians with whom I shared the PDP platform for the entire period I was in there as a member. Accept please the assurance of my very high regards.”

However, Nigerian Tribune gathered that the former governor and his followers from PDP will today (Thursday) rejoin the Labour Party.

Mimiko, who was governor of the state for two terms of eight years will be returning to the party after some four years of collapsing the structure of the LP to the PDP ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Mimiko has been keeping mute over the development as there have been speculations on his defection in the last couple of months

One of the aides of the former governor, however, confirmed that the official declaration of Mimiko and his followers will hold at the Ondo Civic Centre in Ondo town on today, Thursday.

According to him, Mimiko will register as a member of an LP in his ward tomorrow before moving to the civic centre for an official declaration.

He said, “The official declaration of Mimiko and his followers will hold at the Ondo Civic Centre in Ondo town on Thursday, and this will signal the rebuilding of the structure of the LP which was collapsed into the PDP in 2014.”

Speaking on Mimiko’s defection, the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Chief Clement Faboyede, said Mimiko’s defection would not affect the fortune of the party in the state.

Faboyede who expressed surprise at the news of former governor and leader of the party in the state said “the PDP is a very big party that can be likened to an orange tree and if you pluck from it, it does not kill the orange. Therefore the party will survive.

“Dr Mimiko is one of the big fish that left the PDP before and the party is still striving now, we will just hope all these are rumour and that it will not come to happen.

“We really love Dr Mimiko and always want to be part of his political planning. We are hoping he will not leave, and if he does, the party (PDP) will survive.

Mimiko informed us of his intention and we feel he is entitled to his own opinion and calculations and he hinged his defection on what he said was his belief and can no longer stay in PDP

He has communicated that he is going to consult, and he gathered and talk to every stratum of party members and gave reasons, while some agreed and some did not agree and we tried at our own level to discourage him but he has picked a date.

“I believe he is a member of the party until he leaves and If he leaves, good luck to him and goodbye to him. If he eventually leaves, PDP will not and will never die”

Mimiko and his supporters left the LP on October 2, 2014, to collapse the LP structure in the state into the PDP ahead of 2015 election.