Mass Defection Set To Hit Kwara APC Over Governor’s High Handedness, Rigidity

By Akinwale Kasali

Strong speculation is that the Kwara State All Progressives Congress, APC, is set to witness a tsunami defection from the Party. Strong Cabinet Members of Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq’s administration are set to cross-carpet to another party following the rigidity, high handedness and self centeredness of the Governor.

With just four days to the Presidential Election and weeks to the gubernatorial election, crisis is brewing in the Party.

An APC Stalwart in the State who pleaded anonymity disclosed that the Governor will  receive the shock of his life as a result of the mass defection awaiting his Government close to General elections .

The APC stalwart in a chat with this News Medium noted that, “None of the Cabinet Members can boast of any achievement under this administration. All we are waiting for is for the Governor to share the election money, I can tell you there will be an exodus  from APC and may be the Governor is aware of this and that is why he is delaying to release the money.

“Many of us have been enduring under this administration for a very long time but we are left with no option. From Cabinet Members to the party stakeholders, hardly anyone can beat his or her chest that it is well with them under his administration, definitely none, the source said.

The source maintained, “The success of ‘O To Ge’  has been truncated by the Governor.

“ It is regretted that so many people who fought with their tooth and nails to realise the victory he is enjoying today are nowhere to be found in the party. You can ask anybody in Kwara where are the O to ge front soldiers today?

He stressed that the Governor has scattered the little success made during the Movement, as you can see them all in another party and they are ready to spoil votes for his Government to make sure that he does not return to power.

“If I may ask, where are the likes of the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, Senator Rukayat Gbemi Saraki, the Minister of State, Mines and Steel, Prof. Shuaibu Oba Abdulraheem, the Governorship candidate of NNPP, Alhaji Hakeem Lawal, the SDP Governorship candidate, even the Governorship Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Shuaib Abdullahi Yaman. I can continue to go on and on.”

According him: “The Governor succeeded in running the state aground, like a sole administrator, Commissioners don’t know the project that is being implemented in his ministry, contractors only brings document for them to sign. No tangible project for commissioning three months to the end of his administration. No doubt, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq has taking Kwara back.

“To tell you, the Governor in an interview once said, ‘You can see some of my Commissioners are neither building nor buying houses, they are not buying new cars because our Government is not corrupt.’  Is that a Government?, the source queried.

Though it remains unclear the Party the intending defectors are pitching their tents with, as the APC Chieftain refused to divulge the information of their point of destination.

He said, “When it is time, everybody will see it. I don’t want to be forward”.

Meanwhile, before the APC prolonged convention, it had been reported that there were about 208 ongoing court cases in different parts of the country including Kwara by aggrieved APC members.

The All Progressives Congress has been witnessing defections of its members to the opposition party since after its National Convention.

This comes on the trail of a heated crisis in the party, despite a charge by President Muhammadu Buhari for unity.

The reconciliation Committee headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu could not rescue the party from defections.

Apart from defections, there are other indications that the fortunes of the ruling party may be adversely affected by the high rate of inflation, fuel scarcity, Naira redesign, cash crunch  and the party’s inability to live up to its campaign promises to Nigerians in 2015.

The party is believed to have  squandered the goodwill that brought it to power and only lived on what many consider as ‘buying time’.

APC’s contract with Nigerians when it rode to power over seven years ago primarily revolved around ridding the country of corrupt practices, revamping the economy and tackling insecurity.

With less than four months to the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office, divergent opinions across the country suggest that the well-being of the citizenry has not improved compared to what it was when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held sway between 1999 and 2015.

To be sure, in recent times, widespread insecurity, hyper-inflation, the rising cost of living, increasing national debt stock and dwindling revenue, among others, have diminished the standard of living of Nigerians. Nigeria is being described as the World’s capital of poverty.