Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
A new political group, which many have described as a third force in the political equation of Kwara State, Saturday, emerged from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state due to the unresolved crisis rocking the party.
The development has, however, led hundreds of members and supporters of APC in the 16 local government areas of the state to leave the ruling party, even when the new party is yet to be unveiled.
Among members of the aggrieved APC members that formed the third force are senatorial chairman, ward chairmen, local government chairmen, women leaders, youth leaders as well as APC party stalwarts across all the 16 local government areas.
Speaking on behalf of the defectors at the Arca Center Event Hall, Ilorin, spokesman of the group,who is also a former APC senatorial chairman for Kwara central, Mallam Abdulfatai Abdulrahman, said, “It is impossible to achieve the developmental goals we are aiming for Kwarans in the midst of chaotic situation we found ourselves in Kwara APC”.
Abdulrahman, who accused the current leadership of APC of disenfranchising many of them, added that their new party would be unveiled in due course.
The defectors, who tore their APC membership cards and burnt the party symbol of brooms, said the plot to allegedly marginalise them was all about 2023 political permutations.
“As you are all aware, Kwara APC has been enmeshed in one crisis or the other almost immediately after the party’s primary, stretching into the campaign period and lingering up to date.
“The crisis has gotten to its peak with the recently concluded APC membership revalidation and registration exercise in the state that was flawed with deliberate policies and grand orchestration to deregister and disenfranchise selected members of the party.
“The success of a political party is anchored on its popularity, intra-party membership cohesion, integrity and sincere commitment to the service of the masses. All these are glaringly diminishing in Kwara APC as it is now.
“A grand design that denied the majority of party members the opportunity to register and revalidate their membership across the state is a 2023 permutation agenda. We can never cross our fingers and watch the game from the sideline.
“The deliberate inaction to address the lingering crisis in Kwara APC has become obvious to all discerning minds that the agenda to deregister and refusal to revalidate thousands of members across the state was a grand plot that has the backing of the National Caretaker Committee of the party”.
