Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chair in Kwara State, Otunba Iyiola Oyedepo, is confident the All Progressives Congress (APC) will defeat Senate President Bukola Saraki in the 2019 elections.
Oyedepo recently dumped PDP for the APC in reaction to the defection of Saraki, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and others to PDP.
He blamed Saraki for the underdevelopment of Kwara State for the past 16 years.
He said APC in the state had formed a coalition with 15 other political parties to defeat Saraki and his loyalists in 2019.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the state capital, Oyedepo said: โThis state (Kwara) is more or less as he (Saraki) met it. In any case, when you see the percentage of the statutory allocation which still remains at about 75 and 80 per cent, you will see that there is no development in Kwara State.
โIt means that wherever he (Saraki) goes, he goes with misplaced priority, underdevelopment, unfairness in the distribution of amenities, arrogance in power.โ
He said he cannot co-habit the same political space with Saraki.
Said: โDarkness and light cannot co-habit. A government that is unable to give us good governance for about 16 years represents darkness.
โWhile I have been talking about party, I have laid emphasis
with the personalities in government. I have never attacked Buhari, I have always been categorical about Kwara.
โI believe that even if we have bad governance in Nigeria, our own is more or less is a double jeopardy.โ
On Sarakiโs defection, he said: โSaraki is fond of shifting. He shifted from ANPP in 2003 to PDP. In 2013, he shifted from PDP to APC, today he has shifted from APC to PDP.โ
Giving reasons for his defection, Oyedepo hinted: โPDP said anybody coming to PDP with governor will have 60 per cent and those that have been piloting the affairs of the party for a long time will only have 40 per cent.
โAnother obnoxious policy is that whoever decamps from APC to PDP will be given automatic ticket.
โThe governor decamped, even if he can no longer run
any term, three senators decamped, six members of the House of
Representatives decamped, 24 members of the House of Assembly decamped, 16 LG chairman decamped, if those people are to be given automatic ticket, what therefore remains for those of who have been piloting the affairs of that party for a long time?
โSo we had to leave. Even if we were given all those slots
and Senator Saraki will still be part of us, we have a moral burden to be with him because for a long time, we have been telling the whole world that he has not been able to govern well.โ
