Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq on Saturday welcomed thousands of members of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the fold of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
AbdulRazaq received the defectors at a ceremony organised to celebrate June 12 Democracy Day in Ilorin, the state capital.
The defectors included a former presidential candidate of the defunct Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Alhaji Ganiyu Galadima and 16 former local government chairmen in the state who were elected on the PDP’s platform.
The elated Governor, who restated his commitment to good governance and grassroots development, said over 400, 000 Kwarans have registered in the ongoing APC membership revalidation and registration exercise.
Speaking at the event, the APC Chairman in the state, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari put the number of the PDP and other parties’ members that defected to his party at 3,500, adding that the defectors decided to join the APC because they were impressed by the outstanding performance of Governor AbdulRazaq.
One of the the defectors, Ganiyu Galadima, said: “I am now a member of the APC in Kwara and Nigeria. My reasons for defecting to APC are more than 10 but for purposes of time I will dwell on three. First, in 2019, our party, the deregistered Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) supported President Muhammadu Buhari for his election bid. We also came to Kwara state and supported the APC.
“Another reason is the attitude of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq towards governance. His commitment is very high and his approach to governance is unrivalled in the history of the state. For the first time we have a governor that works for 24 hours. It is a good legacy. It is enough motivation to attract people to support him. That is the reason why the governor is popular in the state. The third reason is his commitment to infrastructural development.”
Former Chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON ) in the state, Joshua Omokanye, said: “All the 16 former chairmen under the auspices of the PDP are officially defecting to APC. This also
includes former councilors, supervisory councilors and vice chairmen. We had done it at our various wards in our local governments. We are defecting because we love APC and we love the state governor for what he has been doing since he entered the government.”
Ends
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