APC Suffer Major Setback As Thousands Of Its Members Defect To SDP

Thousands of members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara’s Baruten Local Government Area on Sunday, handing the party a huge blow.

The defectors were led by Umar Usman, the son of the Emir of Yashikira, an aggrieved House of Assembly aspirant.

Usman cited the party’s high-handedness and impunity as grounds for their defection.

He condemned the imposition of candidates against local zoning arrangements in the local government.

The Makama Yashikira, Adamu Yusuf, also spoke on the development stating that an agreement had been reached on the zoning of the legislative seat in the constituency.

“We have a gentleman agreement of power rotation between Okuta and Yashikira that made up our constituency.

“It is now the turn of Yashikira to occupy the Assembly seat, sadly the APC decided to breach the agreement.

“I want to let you understand that an average Batonu man will always stand by his word, that’s why we have decided to leave the APC and pitch our tent with the SDP and there is no going back”

The state Chairman of SDP, Azeez Afolabi,  received the defectors in Baruten.

To receive the new members, Afolabi led other members of the state working committee to Kosinski, the headquarters of the Baruten local council.

He guaranteed defectors a level playing field, emphasizing that the SDP despises imposition, arrogance, and cheating.

The chairman told the defectors that the party’s watchwords were fairness, justice, and equity.

The defectors, in turn, swore to wipe the APC’s memory from the local government, following which they burned a symbolic broom, the party’s logo.

Meanwhile, the state APC and ruling government are yet to react to the development.