National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has alerted on an imminent crackdown on its members in Kwara State in the aftermath of the massive defection of prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to its fold.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said its concern arose following provocative statements emanating from the media in the state in the wake of the defection of their members to the ACN.

“It has become fashionable for the PDP controlled government in Kwara State to find in the ACN a ready scapegoat for its maladministration, incompetence,  profligacy and anti-people policies which have totally alienated the long suffering people of the state from their under performing government, the party said.

According to the party, it is no longer a secret that the state government is owing its workers several months of unpaid salaries.

It accused PDP-controlled state government of  “looking for a scapegoat for its shortcomings and perfecting plans to arrest  and detain ACN chieftains.”

“To keen watchers of Kwara State politics, this will not come as a surprise as the ACN was also held responsible for the violent protest that greeted the ban of commercial motorcyclists in the state recently, and a strident call was made for the arrest of ACN chieftains when the representatives of the government were booed and pelted with missiles at the Muslim praying ground last August,” the party added.

ACN further accused the state government of engaging on profligacy and scandalous deductions of funds meant for local government areas.

It said the incompetent, cronyism, and anti -people policies of the government has brought about untold hardship to the people and left the state under developed. 

“For a government that has repeatedly proclaimed to the world that the opposition is dead in the state, the recent massive defection of its former loyalists was bound to jolt and send it to overdrive especially given the  quality of the political giants that left to join  the ACN.”

The party listed those who recently defected from the PDP to ACN to include: the Chairman of Irepodun Local Government Area and a three-time Commissioner, Chief James Ayeni, a two-term time  Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Jide Usman, former  Auditor of the PDP in Ekiti Local  Government Area, Abiodun Dada.

Others include  a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Ayo  Idowu, and a former state director of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief J. S. Adedoyin, the former state legal adviser of ACPN, Mr. Akinmade Yahaya Abolarin, a former member of the state Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC), Alhaji  Issa Raji.