By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Kwara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council for the reelection of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has stated that two governorship candidates and some other leading candidates from the opposition parties in the state would soon rejoin the APC ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The Campaign Council, however, said that defections from the ruling party would not have any negative effect on the chances of the governor and the party in the 2023 general elections because not a few have also defected to the APC on the state.

Speaking with journalists on Thursday in Ilorin, the state capital, the Campaign Council, led by its Director General, Ambassador Yahaya Seriki, said discussions on having a working arrangement with the APC was already ongoing among the governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and other leading candidates of the opposition parties in the state.

The campaign boss, who was corroborated by the state Chairman of the party, Chief Sunday Fagbemi and the Council’s spokesperson, who doubles as the state Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Florence Oyeyemi, said that APC is a family with peculiar internal mechanism in resolving issues.

“Recall that I was Director General of the APC campaign council in the Kwara Central senatorial district in 2018/2019 general elections. Many of these people that defected from APC didn’t participate in the election campaign then. In 2019, I approached about 13 governorship aspirants then on the need to present one person among all of us as the party’s governorship candidate. The major reason they are not in APC today is because of their personal interest or expectations which according to them might not have been met. My own interest is to see a better Kwara state. If they believe in growth of the state, they would not have left the party. Kwara is bigger than anybody. Leaving the party, to me, is out of personal interest and not that of the state.

“To answer your question, their departure from the party would not affect the chances of the governor in his bid for reelection. They also know they are going no where leaving the APC. They were probably looking for ways to see us come and meet with them, which we have already started. By the special grace of God, the governorship candidates of the YPP, SDP, even PDP, we are together and talking. Don’t be surprised to hear and see tomorrow the PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman Abdulahi, saying that because of Ambassador Yahaya Seriki, he’s supporting Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s reelection bid come 2023.”

Chief Sunday Fagbemi, who said that there is a difference between governance and partisan politics, added that the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, is still a member of the APC.

“The Minister is our leader and he’s still part of us. He has never said that he’s no longer part of us. He will participate in the 2023 general elections with us. The closer you look, the lesser you know as it concerns APC in Kwara. Never mind, by the time elections come you will see that we’re going to win by bigger margin than what happened in 2019. There’s no cause for alarm”, he said.

Also speaking, the campaign council spokesperson, Florence Oyeyemi said that the state has moved from the 20th position on financial sustainability index in 2018 to eighth position currently.

She was responding to allegation by the opposition on purported huge debt profile of the present administration, saying that there’s no way the present administration would have been servicing debt and still move up on the financial sustainability index.

“Fiscal sustainability index simply means ability to be able to sustain your finances comparing it with what your loan repayment schedules are and relating it with federal accounting and allocation Committee (FAAC) and IGR”, she said.

She also said that the only facility taken by the present administration was bond, which she said is being used for the execution of sustainable projects like a garment making factory, Innovation hub and Visual Arts Centre, among others.