Ex-PDP Scribe Declares Party Dead in Kwara

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A former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, Mr. Yemi Afolayan, Monday said the party had not only lost its status as the ruling party in the state but was also dead.

Afolayan, who made this assertion in Ilorin in a statement made available to journalists, said: “We do not envy him in his dream and fantasy that the PDP is still ruling the nation because we know that in reality a government that has lost touch with the electorate may still occupy the state house but in the hearts and minds of the people.”

The former PDP scribe, who was reacting to media reports credited to the chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Prof. Shuaib

AbdulRaheem, to the effect that the PDP remains the ruling party in the country and in Kwara State, said: “While Prof. AbdulRaheem is entitled to his opinion, “we expect that as a man who had reached the pinnacle of academic pursuit and claim to be committed to the assignment of building national unity, Professor Abdulraheem should be more circumspect in his utterances as the newly found voice of the dead PDP in the state.”

He added: “PDP is no longer in power. And that can be attested to by the fact that daily thousands of people are joining the APC across the country and in the state we wonder how many people are still left in the moribund PDP.

Afolayan, who is now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, noted that: “We understand. The renewed ambition of becoming the state governor might have pushed the professor to the extreme. But Kwarans are no fools; they know who has their real interest at heart.”

The APC chieftain noted further that: “They know what the government of the state has done in terms of employment and infrastructure development, in terms of giving meaning to the lives of the real downtrodden, in terms of keeping faith and promises, not just in the last two and a half years, but since 2003 when the current political leadership of the state started the journey of transformation, notwithstanding the very challenging financial resource allocation to the state.

“We invite him to check the state budget for 2014 and see the projections for employment and social development. And by the grace of God and the excellent leadership we have in the state, we shall fulfil every term of the projections.”

He, however, said: “We are not done yet with working on Kwara State. When we are through, he can come to test his ambition. We shall continue to work with progressive minds across the length and breadth of the nation because our dream for Nigeria is of a land where each of us, the Professor inclusive, would be proud of our leaders, where we would all know that those managing the affairs of our land are truly capable and faithful to their oath of office. That is the stand of the progressive governors; that is the stand of APC; that is the dream of every patriotic Nigerian. APC is the party of the progressives. There is no gain playing with a dead party, the PDP. In Kwara state, PDP is dead. No amount of lies and twist of language can change the reality.”