APC welcomes over 3,000 women from PDP in Kwara

Over 3,000 women members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kwara State on Wednesday dumped the party for the All Progressives Congress, APC.

 

The defectors, mainly from Ibagun Ward in the Ilorin East Local Government Area of the state, claimed Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq administration’s women inclusiveness in governance and the recent emergence of Hajia Falilat Mohammed as the state APC women leader enticed them to defect to the party.

 

However, in a reaction, the Chairman of PDP in the ward, Abdulwahab Atere, in a statement in Ilorin, countered the defection report, saying “it is APC members defecting to APC.”

 

Atere, described as laughable report of the purported defection of 3,000 women in Ibagun Ward from the party to the ruling APC.

 

“It is obvious that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and his party men are still disillusioned and embittered by the recent defection of notable members of the APC to PDP and they are now making up defection for public perception,” he said.

 

He said the news of the defection, was not only laughable but existed in the imagination of those who orchestrated it, adding that ” pictures of the defectors being circulated online are known members of the APC, who only moved from one faction in the party to the governor’s AA faction.”

 

They were welcomed into the APC by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Political, Abdullateef Alakawa, and the state party chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, also represented by the state secretary of APC, Mustapha Isowo.

 

Speaking on behalf of the defectors, Hajia Balikis Abdulrauf and Fatima Tajudeen, said the governor’s superlative and inspiring priority attention to women, motivated them to join the APC.

 

They noted various women empowerment programmes implemented by the governor in the last two years, as well as the appointment of women into strategic public offices, adding that ” Kwara boasts of the highest number of women as cabinet members in the country.”

 

They pledged their continued support for the administration of governor Abdulrazaq and pleaded that he heeds the various calls on him to seek re-election in 2023 in the interest of the masses.

 

Top party chieftains and government officials witnessed the event.