Kwara: AbdulRahman Loses Grip, PDP Gains Support

By Fola James

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the governor of Kwara state has started losing support barely a year in office as the helmsman of the Harmony state.

The APC governor was swept into power in 2019 riding under the mantra of change, thus effectively bringing to an end many years of Peoples’ Democracy Party, PDP on power.

But 13 months down the line, the Otoge(change) coalition seems to be falling apart.

On Thursday, many members of the party, predominantly from the state’s North Senatorial district, left for the PDP citing disunity among the leadership of the party.

The development came on the crest of preparation for local government election in the state.

The leader of the decampees, Hon. Manzuma Kawu Dogo, said the protracted crisis started as soon as the governor came to power more than a year ago.

The PDP chairman in the state, Kola Shittu while welcoming the decampees said the APC has scammed the people after failing in its promises to transform the state.

Shittu “We’re not surprised with the development due to unfulfilled promises of the present administration in the state.

Doors of our party are wide open just as our umbrella is big enough to house every citizen of the state.”

He said they have waited long enough for the internal wrangling among APC leaders in the state to settle, adding that he and other members decided to leave when there was no end to the crisis.

He stated that over 10,000 members from the senatorial district decided to take their destinies in their own hands by moving to the PDP.

Dogo said “we are about 10,000 in number across the 58 wards in the district.”

He explained that the infighting among the state APC leaders had dragged for too long, that the only option left is to abandon the party so as to chart a new destiny for him and his followers.

According to Dogo “Along the line, the centre cannot hold and things fall apart as a result of injustice, lack of fairness, recognition and sense of belonging to the party members.

After waiting for a year, we discovered that the truth has prevailed, necessitating our movement as against compromising our principle.

It is high time for us to maintain our clear noble principle towards bringing positive changes and betterment to our people.”

Shittu said the decampees did not leave the APC due to pecuniary gains because”As you can see there is nothing in the PDP to share now to anyone, therefore our decamping from APC to PDP is based on conviction.”

Meanwhile, watchers of the state’s politics say the governor still enjoys good support from the people of the state but that the PDP is also gaining strength ahead the 2023 general election.