The fortune of the Allied Congress Party of
Nigeria (ACPN) in Kwara State received a boost over the weekend with
the defection of thousands of members from Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to its fold. The ACPN is
the new political platform for the strongman of Kwara politics; Olusola
Saraki, the father of the incumbent governor of the state. With this
move, the ACPN which little was known about until the senior Saraki
joined it, is poised to be a force to be reckoned with in the state’s
politics. Mr Saraki joined the party after he fell out with the
governor over who should be his successor.
Gbemi Saraki, daughter to the politician and a
serving Senator is running on the party’s platform as its gubernatorial
candidate for the April polls in the state, pitching her against her
brother who has anointed a member of his cabinet as the PDP’s
gubernatorial candidate.
Notable among the new members that joined the
party are politicians from the Ajikobi area of Ilorin who dropped the
cards of their former parties to pick that of ACPN . Former Speaker of
the Kwara State House of Assembly under the All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP), Benjamin Isa led the members from PDP.
According to Mr Isa, his group decided to leave
the ruling PDP because of the mischief going on within the party,
noting that, “the political landscape in the state will not be the same
after the April general elections.” He said that the PDP has been
hijacked by those he called ‘enemies of democracy’, and he promised
that he and his diciples joining ACPN will work hard to dethrone the
ruling party.
The Director General of Gbemi Rukayyat Saraki Campaign Organisation,
Femi Ogunsola received the new members and promised them a level
playing ground in the party. He said that ACPN is a party for the
people, adding that its formation was informed by the need to have a
political party where there is equality of members.
