Date: 2014-06-16

The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has said reports in a section of the media suggesting that members of its party defected to the opposition PDP is untrue and fictitious, stressing that the purported defection only exist in the imagination of PDP handlers.

The APC said necessary checks on party register reveal that the leader of the purported decampees, Mallam Ajadi Abdulfatah, is not a member of APC.

The APC in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, noted that no member of its party under the competent and responsive leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki (CON) will leave APC for the highly factionalized and inept PDP.

"The attention of our party has been drawn to media reports that some members of APC at Alore area of Ilorin West Local Government defected to the opposition PDP. The report is untrue, conflicting and fictitious. Checks on party register reveal that the leader of the invisible decampees, Mallam Ajadi Abdulfatah is not a member of APC.

"Meanwhile, the conflicting figures of decampees attest to the fact that PDP is a party of falsehood. While a media house reported the defection of 2,000 persons, another media house reported the defection of 500 persons and the picture attached to the news story only showed a group of about 80persons at a rally. The fact is that no member of APC defected to the highly factionalized and inept PDP.

"The false media report raised many questions: which faction of the many factions in PDP did the invisible defectors defected to? If a defection rally was truly organised, why did the PDP handlers send conflicting reports plus mismatched pictures to media houses? Why did PDP handlers had to beg journalists to publish the apparently untrue story when the PDP could have invited same journalists to cover the rally?.

"The APC in Kwara State remains a united and formidable party under the competent and responsive leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki (CON) and we are confident that the good people of Kwara State will not yield to the antics of the opposition PDP.

"The APC urged media practitioners to safeguard the independence of the media in news reportage so that the media will not be manipulated by the PDP in the future.", the statement read.