By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The gale of defections over the weekend hit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state as no fewer than 5,000 members of the APC publicly defected from the party to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the state ahead of 2023 polls.
The mostly affected local government councils hit by the defections are Ilorin West and Asa local government areas of the state.
The defectors also cut across wards of Ajikobi, Ubandawaki, Ogidi
Adewole, Badari among others in Ilorin West local government area
The defectors also came from five communities of Laduba ward that include, Sapati, Abayawo, Budo-Ago and Ago-Oja, all in Asa local government area of the state.
The defectors at Baboko ward who were led by Mr. Toyin Abdul, Mr. Olohuntoyin Rahmeen, Engineer Yinka Yusuf and the Igbo community in Baboko stated that, they decided to leave APC due to the alleged poor performances of the present administration in the state and due to lack of capacity and capability of the APC led government to provide good leadership to the people of the state.
They also said that, their decision to dump the APC was to support the leadership qualities of the PDP leaders in the state especially the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki to lead the state from hawks of the APC led administration..
Welcoming the decampees, the Baboko Ward PDP chairman, Alhaji Mashood Yakub advised them to work for the progress of PDP and the country at large.
Also, at Laduba ward, one of the leaders of the youth group, Mr. Mathew Adachi who led other APC members to PDP confirmed that they were core members of APC and they worked for the success of the party in 2019.
Adachi lamented that, “the current administration in Kwara State has failed and betrayed the trust of the people”, pointing out that, “APC is a discriminating party which has nothing to offer for the electorate”.
Also speaking, the Seriki Zuru communities, in Laduba ward who led his people to the venue, Alhaji Garuba Umar, revealed that they were tired of the present administration in both state and federal, describing them as an ignorant and wicked set of people.
He explained that the Zuru communities had not benefited anything from the present administration since inception of office three years ago.
The Zuru traditional leader in Afon commended the leadership of the former Senate President and PDP for making them know the real electorate lovers, assuring that they would work for the success of PDP at both the State and Federal level.
The decampees were later received into the PDP by some leaders like Alhaji Jimoh Adesina, the DG Mandate Office, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi among others.
