Kwara State PDP loses 20 Lawmakers to APC
20 out of the 24 members of the Kwara State House of Assembly, alongside the Speaker, Hon Abdulrazak Atunwa on Wednesday officially defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). APC now has an overwhelming majority with 22 out of the 24 members of the House.
The decamping comes just a few weeks after that of the state governor, Abdulfattah Ahmed. The Speaker declared that the 20 defected members had officially written to denounce their membership of PDP thereby moving to APC and described the decamping as a historic victory for democracy, stressing the need for political leaders to always allow for internal democracy and rule of law while also dashing all hopes of a return to PDP in future.
Each member of the House that defected cited the crisis and factionalisation in PDP as factors responsible for their defection and relied on section 109 of the constitution which they noted empowered them to change party in such situation.
“We have consulted widely in our various constituencies and we have no option than to dump umbrella for broom,” one of the defected members of the House said.
The speaker also said that complete collapse of internal democracy and failed efforts to settle the grievances of some members of the PDP was part of the reasons for dumping the party for APC. When asked if there was a possible return of the defected members to PDP with a new party chairman appointed, the speaker said: “The party has been damaged beyond redemption.”