Senator Gbemisola Saraki and Kwara PDP Youth Leader defect to APC

Governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, and the state PDP Youth Leader, Chief Segun Olawoyin, on Tuesday formally defected to the All Progressives Congress.

Both PDP leaders, who addressed their numerous supporters, urged them to follow them to APC.

They also urged them to vote for APC during Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections.

While Ms Saraki addressed her supporters in Ilorin, Olawoyin addressed his supporters in Offa, Kwara State.

Olawoyin said he defected to APC in the interest of his community, regretting that the PDP had offered false hope of freedom.

Ms Saraki, a former Senator, hinged the ground of her defection on PDP’s marginalisation of women in the state, accusing the opposition party of lacking the blueprint and commitment to develop Kwara State.

She said, “I come before you for a formal declaration of our move to the APC.

“This is not to underplay the reality that we have joined the APC a fortnight ago, just before the Presidential and National Assembly elections, but I believe I owe you the obligation to formally announce this move to you as a deep respect for your love and your support of the GRS Movement over the years.

“This decision is a product of wide consultations with members of the GRS political family that cuts across all the 16 Local Government Areas of the state on the one hand and the leadership of APC on the other.

“It was in furtherance of this that on the eve of the Presidential and National Assembly elections I had asked all my supporters to troupe out en masse and vote for all the candidates of the APC.”

She said her political ideology was rooted in championing the cause of the grass roots; upholding equity and justice, and especially the vision for a meaningful and passionate leadership.

The former federal lawmaker added, “When we joined Kwara PDP, it was for the main reason of enlarging these inalienable values and re-engineering the processes of leadership through the party in order to mirror the true aspirations of Kwarans.
 

“Considering the circumstance of the party at the state level, we knew we had to work harder and make sacrifices to deliver a party that would represent the yearnings of our people.

“However, the ensuing pattern of animosity within PDP was strongly placing our ideology on the crosshair of political attacks by elements within the party.

“Furthermore, the party was evidently hijacked from evolving into a political force that can accommodate the broad interests of the people but allowed to tarry to the selfish ambitions of some elements within its fold.

“This rubbished the sanctity of democratic ethos of any true leadership and frustrated any semblance of cohesiveness of the party.”

Saraki said she and her supporters worked assiduously to instill in PDP decency and political maturity necessary to force an essential sense of direction.

Credit: Success Nwogu/Punch