Thousands of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ilorin, Kwara State have dumped the party, setting its symbol, the broom, ablaze in a symbolic gesture.
The aggrieved APC members said they dumped the ruling party to form a “Third Force” ahead of the 2023 polls.
Alhaji Abdulfatai Abdulrahman, the Kwara Central Senatorial Chairman of APC, led thousands of defectors to dump the party at an event held at MM Event Centre along Offa Road.
Addressing his supporters, Abdulrahman disclosed more than 20,000 members defected, including local government party chairmen, women leaders, youth leaders among others.
He added that he would soon float a new party.
He disclosed that the decision to dump the party was partly fuelled by the failure of the John Danboi-led team and the National Secretariat to address misgivings concerning the problematic membership registration/revalidation exercise in the state.
Abdulrahman said, “It is, however, disheartening, shameful and preposterous that Kwara APC cannot manage its success even at half time of its tenure in the saddle of governance in the state.
“The intra-party crisis has been on for long and unabated.
“The struggle for the soul of the party, which cannot be divorced from the 2023 political ambitions, has been the root cause of the lingering internal squabbles.
“The hopes and expectation of party members to reap the fruits of their collective labour have been dashed due to the self-inflicted and unwarranted crisis. This was not what Kwarans bargained for.”
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He added, “The deliberate inaction to address the lingering crisis in Kwara APC has become obvious to all discerning minds that the agenda to deregister and refusal to revalidate thousands of members across the state was a grand plot that has the backing of the National Caretaker Committee.
“There is also evidence that the incumbent governor has concluded every arrangement to ensure all the elective positions from the wards to the state level work in his favour to ease his re-election bid as governorship flagbearer of the party.”