KOTA KINABALU: The fact that Datuk Mohammadin Ketapi "ran away" comes as no surprise to his party colleagues in Parti Warisan Sabah.

       Warisan supreme council member Azhar Matussin said that the Lahad Datu MP and Segama assemblyman was taking the easy way out by just ignoring the mandate of the people and running away to support the government of the day.

       "He (Mohammadin) chose the easy way by ignoring the mandate that has been given by the people in the elections," he said in a statement.

       "Mohammadin ran away from the struggle leaving his comrades. Now he is colluding with a party that he once fought against. We leave it to the people to judge his actions," he added.

       "Whatever it is, we wish Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi 'selamat maju jaya.' We, who are still in Warisan, will remain with the Warisan leadership led by our President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal," said Azhar, who was Darau assemblyman.

       Earlier on Saturday (Oct 30), Mohammadin announced that he was leaving the party to be an independent, friendly with the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah state government while at the Federal level he would be an independent in the opposition block.

       Azhar said there was no need to jump from the party to focus on serving the areas he represented as the current government would be fully responsible for development in the areas represented.

       "We did not run away from our original stand and as assemblyman we remain steadfast with Warisan," said Azhar.