Mass Defection in Kwara: PDP, ACN members join ACPN enmasse

Details: Category: Politics; Published on Monday, 31 January 2011 05:03; Written by Tribune; Hits: 2383

The fortune of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) in Kwara State received a boost at the weekend with the defection of 10,000 members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and 25,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to its fold.

The ACPN is the new political platform of former Senate Leader, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki. With this move, the ACPN is gradually becoming a force to be reckoned with in the politics of Kwara State. Senator Gbemi Saraki is the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the state.

Notable among the defectors are politicians from the Ajikobi area of Ilorin, who dropped the cards of their former parties to pick that of ACPN.

Former speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly under the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Benjamin Isa led the PDP defectors.

Isa said his group decided to dump the PDP because of the many shenanigans going on within its fold, adding, that from the look of things, the political landscape in the state would not be the same after the April general election.

He said that the PDP had been hijacked by those he called enemy of democracy, even as he promised that he and other defectors would work hard to dethrone the ruling party.

The Director-General of Gbemi Rukayyat Saraki Campaign Organisation, Dr Femi Ogunsola, received the defectors. Speaking at the ceremony attended by a mammoth crowd, Dr Ogunsola promised the defectors a level playing field in the party.

He said that ACPN is a party for the people, adding, that its formation was informed by the need to have a political party that guarantees equality of members. The DG promised that ACPN, with the calibre of people in its fold