Kwara State Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in the 2011 election, Mr. Dele Belgore has described as a sham and diversionary a report that some of his supporters defected to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Some ACN members from four wards of Ilorin South Local Government area had at a rally in the state PDP secretariat renounced their membership of the opposition party and even tore the ACN customised fabric in the presence of PDP executive, loyalists and supporters.

Mallam AbdulAzeez Kazeem who led the defectors who are said to be Belgore’s supporters said the ACN structure in the local government has collapsed with their defection, alleging that Belgore used and dumped them.

However, Belgore in a statement by his media aide, Rafiu Ajakaye tagged the purported defection as a ruse, claiming that some fellows were paid to disguise as ACN/Belgore supporters “to satisfy PDP’s obsession with publicity”.

“We have since discovered that PDP and its government can go to any length, including concocting mindless lies, to satisfy their obsession for media attention. When you place the defection story against the claim by the leader of the ‘defectors’ that they belonged to MDB Forum, the whole thing falls flat because there is nothing like the MDB Forum”, the statement said.

However, speaking with Daily Trust yesterday, the PDP chairman in Kwara Central, Alhaji Jimoh Adesina debunked Belgore’s claim, saying, “The defectors presented the ACN register as well as their membership cards which they tore in my presence and I issued them PDP cards. We have integrated them into the party. So, the ACN’s statement is a blatant lie. They should produce the authentic register of their members in the local government if they have”.