Two terms governorship aspirant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ), Sunday Babalola and supporters on Tuesday announced their defection to the All Progressives Congress in Kwara state.
Babalola, an engineer, said he cannot be in the same political party with Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, Babalola said “I have defected with over 20,000 supporters who belong to several groups across Kwara State. I am involved in partisan politics because I believe that politics is about service to the people.
“With the defection of Saraki and many of his loyalists, who have led the state and its people into penury, poverty, anguish, hunger, oppression and retrogression, from APC to the PDP, which he laboured very hard to destroy as a result of his inordinate ambition, it is very clear that I have to move with all my supporters to a political party that is more focused on people development.
“I find it very difficult to be in the same political party with them major actor or principal, who many people, including I, believe hasmplunged Kwara state into abysmal condition. As a past aspirant and an electorate, I have decided to pitch my tent with the All Progressives Congress.”
Said he: “Our dear state, as it is now, needs urgent liberation from the over 45 years of deceit, oppression and primordial politics of ‘stomach infrastructure’ so that the people can be delivered from a people that has held them hostage and put them in the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment for so long.
“I believe that government plays significant role in advancing the well-being of the citizens, through the provision of infrastructure and amenities, human capital development and by engendering an environment that is conducive for business growth and expansion.
“The improper management of state resources by the ruling elite, especially the oligarchy of Senator Bukola Saraki, who ruled the state for eight years and still pilots the affairs of the state, through cronies, has to be brought to an end. The level of poverty and infrastructure decay in spite of the volume of the revenues that had accrued to the State over the years, both from the federation allocations and internally generated revenue, is what every well-meaning person should rise up and fight against.
“I will continue to offer my services and resources for the emancipation of my people and for societal development. I do not believe that the return of Saraki and his loyalists to the PDP, after his several actions and utterances, intended to debase, strangulate, ridicule and public opprobrium, that the party would be able to offer anything good for Kwara indigenes and residents.
“Those who have been accused to have held the state in the jugular, tried to suffocate and strangle it cannot metamorphose to be saviours and liberators of the state, their bombastic claims and promises notwithstanding.”
