The Kwara Transparency and Accountability Initiative, KTAI, has uncovered a desperate and shameful plot by the newly formed Kwara South Directorate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Campaign to induce members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and traditional rulers in Kwara South with millions of naira.
This latest move is not politics, it is panic. It is the last kick of a dying party that has completely failed Kwara South and is now trying to buy what it could not earn through performance.
For over six years, the APC has treated Kwara South as a forgotten district. Our roads are death traps. From Ifelodun to Irepodun, from Oke-Ero to Isin, from Ekiti to Oyun and Offa, what we have are abandoned projects and audio interventions. The social intervention programmes they promised are non-existent. Youths are jobless, women are unsupported, and communities now contribute money to rescue kidnapped victims because government has abandoned its primary responsibility of securing lives. This is the legacy of the APC in Kwara South – neglect, hardship and propaganda.
Because they have nothing to campaign with, they have now resorted to buying conscience.
Credible intelligence available to KTAI shows that the APC Directorate in Kwara South, rattled by the unstoppable momentum of the PDP in Kwara South, has earmarked millions of naira to begin a large-scale inducement operation from Oke-Ero Local Government. The plan is two-fold: to lure PDP members with cash and to induce respected traditional rulers in the region to do their bidding.
This is an insult to the proud people of Kwara South. Are we for sale? Can they use the same money they refused to use to fix our roads and secure our communities to now buy us?
The reality that is giving them sleepless nights is clear. The PDP in Kwara South is now a moving train that cannot be stopped. In the last one week alone, the party has received thousands of decampees from the APC across the seven local governments. The latest major boost came from Ekiti LGA where former Senator Simon Sule Ajibola and the APC Elders Caucus Chairman, Chief J. B. Ayeni, alongside thousands of their followers, dumped the APC and joined the PDP.
In Olla, Isin LGA, PDP also received APC chieftain Hon. Femi Sunday Oni Shola and hundreds of followers. In other wards, the story is the same. People are leaving the APC in droves because they are tired of hunger, insecurity and deceit. The people have rejected the APC, and no amount of money can reverse that rejection.
What Kwara South needs is not a party that shares money at night after starving the people in the day. What we need is a party that has shown capacity, presence and compassion. That is what the PDP under the leadership of our national leader, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, represents – a party that is connected to the people and committed to their welfare.
We are therefore calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, and all other financial monitoring agencies to beam their searchlight on Kwara South. The APC campaign directorate must be watched closely to prevent the weaponization of illicit funds to compromise our traditional institution and induce voters.
We also call on our traditional rulers, who are the custodians of our culture and values, to reject this dirty money and stand with the people. History will remember where everyone stood when Kwara South decided to liberate itself.
KTAI urges all PDP members to remain resolute and undistracted. The APC has failed, it has been rejected, and its millions cannot buy the will of a determined people. Kwara South has moved, and no inducement can bring it back.
Signed:
Comr. Adebayo Nurudeen
Executive Director,
Kwara Transparency and Accountability Initiative (KTAI)
