The internal crisis rocking the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Kwara State began to take its toll on the party yesterday when about 2, 500 of its members defected to join the rival Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Those who defected were said to be largely the followers of Mr. Dele Belgore, SAN, otherwise known as MDB in political circles and also the governorship candidate of the ACN in the 2011 general elections in state.

The defectors, who are from the wards of Belgore in Oke-Ogun, Okaka I and II, Akanbi III, IV and V and Balogun-Fulani III in Ilorin South Local Government Areas of the state in their large numbers trooped to the PDP state secretariat along Pategi Road, GRA, Ilorin.

To prove that their grouse with the party had to do with MDB, they tore his banners which he used in the 2011 elections as well as the flags of the ACN.

Speaking at a reception ceremony for the new members, their leader, Mr. Abdul Azeez Kassim, said the defectors had been the brain behind the series of defeats of the PDP in the council area in the past, pointing out that a new lease of life has come to the PDP in the area with their defection

Kassim accused leaders of ACN in the state of their insensitivity to the wishes of members, adding that the leaders dumped them immediately after the last general elections.

He explained that their decision to join the PDP was due to the sterling leadership qualities of the former governor of the state and Senator representing Kwara Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, as well as the performance of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed so far in the state.

Receiving the new members, state Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Isola Balogun- Fulani, accompanied by the party’s Chairman in Ilorin South, Alhaji Adamu Mohammed and other party leaders, assured that the party was ready to provide equal opportunity for them to contribute their quota towards the development of the party and the state.

Balogun-Fulani, who assured them that their demands would be delivered to the leader of the party, Senator Bukola Saraki, said that the gesture would also go a long way to assist them towards moving the party forward in the state.

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