It was a dramatic incident on Friday as over 500 members of the ruling APC crossed over to the Peoples Democratic Party.
PDP and APC logo
The political atmosphere is charged in Kwara State as no fewer than 800 members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mr Iyiola Oyedepo, the Chairman of the PDP in the state, received the defectors in Ilorin on Friday during the visit of executive members of the party in the North Central Zone.
Dr Hanafi Alabere, who led the defectors from Alanamu Ward in Ilorin West Local Government Area, said they were fed up with the APC.
Oyedepo, in his remarks, told the visiting zonal executives that no notable member of the party had defected to the APC since 2015.
He described the defection of Alabere and his colleagues as a pointer to the popularity of the PDP in the state.
The visiting Zonal Chairman, Mr Theophilus Dakas, commended the PDP executives in the state for keeping the party intact in spite of its internal crisis.
He appealed to the members to continue to work for the progress of the party through sustained membership drive.
Dakas, who said the party leadership had directed that power should be devolved to the ward level, commended members over the party’s performance in the Nov. 18, 2017 local government election.
He gave an assurance that the era of impunity and imposition of candidates in the PDP was gone, adding that the people would decide who would represent them.
-NAN