Ahead of the 2023 general elections, thousands of the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State loyal to the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, at the weekend in Ilorin publicly dumped the party for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The faction had been at loggerheads with the Governor of Kwara State, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, over the leadership of the party since the APC took over power through the "O To Ge" (enough is enough) movement in the state.

Although, the national leadership of the party set up a national reconciliation committee headed by Senator Adamu Abdullahi (now National Chairman of APC) but could not resolve the issue as the faction accused him of being partial during his visit to Ilorin to engage the factions and subsequent recognition of the governor's faction by the APC national leadership in Abuja.

Even some elders of the committee in the state headed by the former Ambassador to Malaysia, Mr. Nurudeen Mohammed, intervened on the issue but also failed to make headway on the crisis.

Since then, the group has been looking for a way out of the APC in order to have a new platform to pursue their ambitions in the 2023 general elections in the state.

However, on Saturday, members of the group who came from the 193 wards in the state converged at the former state secretariat of the faction located along Flowers Garden Road, GRA, Ilorin, to dump the APC and declared for the SDP.

Speaking at the event, the former Kwara South Senatorial Chairman of the APC and spokesperson of the defectors, Mr. Rasak Alabi, said that "without doubt, you are all witnesses to the inhuman treatment we have suffered in the APC and how the party hierarchy has finally decided to treat our concerns with levity.

"It is harrowing to also note the lack of responsible leadership displayed by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and the national leadership of the party.

" However, it is important to point out here that those that recommended and indeed imposed him on us did a great disservice and injustice to our people."

He added: "No one ever disputed the fact that Governor AbdulRazaq is the leader of the party in the state but that does not equally make him trample on the democratic principles which the party represents.

"The truth of the matter also is that he cannot run the party in isolation and if he must command the loyalty and the trust of his party members, he must also strongly respect their views and opinions.

"But, we must let you know that while all the crisis was going on, notable persons and party elders had on several occasions approached the governor so that the matter could be resolved and put to an end but surprisingly the governor never yielded."

Alabi noted that "despite our endurance in the face of the inhuman treatment meted us in the party, it will be correct to suggest that the Kwara State's governor working in tandem with the former National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mr. Mai Mala Buni, has decided to edge us out of the party against our wish.

"And to make matters worse, Senator Adamu Abdullahi who once headed the APC's National Reconciliation Committee that denied us fair hearing but rather turned himself to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq's solicitor and advocate' is now the party's national chairman."

He asked: "How then can we be hopeful of getting justice in this circumstance? We do not think we have a future in this APC any longer and it would be safer for us to look elsewhere where our democratic views and opinions would be respected?"

Alabi opined further that "if the national leadership of the party does not believe that we are politically relevant in the state and we need to make them understand also that the mam they queued behind is also a blown-out fuse and not capable of leading the party to any victory in the state come 2023.

"Seated here with us at this press briefing are all the 193 ward chairmen, 16 local government chairmen, and all the state working committee members who have jointly decided with our numerous supporters to announce to you today our official defection and mass movement of our supporters and party members from APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP)."

Receiving the defectors, the National Publicity Secretary of the SDP, Mr. Rufus Ayenigba, who represented the National Chairman of SDP, Mr. Olu Agunloye at the event, lauded the gesture of the faction that left APC for SDP. He said that the gesture was in line with tenets of progressives, adding that the SDP would take over the leadership of the state and the country during the next elections.

Agunloye, therefore, urged the members to move inwards into all the 193 wards in the state so as to mobilize more people for the party to win the next elections in the state.