The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State took a different dimension on Wednesday with the official defection of one of the factions to the Young Progressives Party (YPP).
It will be recalled that the factionalization and leadership crisis within the Kwara APC has polarized party activities for a long time with all the factions laying claim to authenticity.
The differences have seen the state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and the Minister of Information and Culture who is also from the state, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, tussle for the control of the arty structure in the state.
But on Wednesday, the faction headed by Alh Yakub Gobir, one of the arrowheads of the “O to ge” movement back in 2019 defected to the YPP.
Spokesman of the faction, Mallam AbdulFatah AbdulRahman said they made the move following the protracted crisis that has hit the APC in the state and has defied all attempts at resolution.
He said the “inability of the Kwara state APC to demonstrate fairness, equity, and provision and a level playing field for every member of the party; a protracted intraparty crisis that have shown no signs of abating. In fact, the undemocratic way the APC’s ward congresses were recently conducted is a clear indication of an imminent collapse of the party in Kwara state.”
Abdulrahman added that the current administration in Kwara State has shown that it doesn’t care about the welfare of APC members as it is clear that the dividends of true governance can’t be obtained under the current conditions.
He said ”excluding the majority of party members across Kwara State from exercising their legitimate rights during the membership registration and revalidation exercise was a clear signal that the current administration in Kwara State is not interested in securing popular mandate at the next elections. “And “aspirations of Kwarans for good governance and overall development of the state cannot be achieved under APC with the existing conditions.”
Receiving the defectors, the Kwara State Chairman of Young Progressives Party (YPP) Mr. Charles Olufemi Afolayan said he is happy the decampees have seen the light.
He expressed optimism that they would be able to work together to take over power in Kwara come 2023 elections.
“It is evident that they have seen the light ahead and have decided to join the true progressives party to fix Nigeria and Kwara State in particular.”
Kwara YPP Chairman added that his party will, ”put an end to recycling of incompetent people in power through our party’s agenda THE BALLOT REVOLUTION and enthrone service-oriented patriots for national development. If we can Fix Politics; we can fix Nigeria.”
He lamented that the APC at both the state and federal levels has brought untold hardship to Nigerians but the YPP is ready to change the fortunes.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News