Many members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara.

The defectors were led by an aggrieved House of Assembly aspirant, Mr Umar Usman, the son of the Emir of Yashikira.

Usman gave high-handedness and impunity in the party as reasons for their defection.

He condemned the imposition of candidates against local zoning arrangements in the local government.

The state Chairman of SDP, Alhaji Azeez Afolabi, received the defectors in Baruten.

Afolabi led other state working committee members to Kosinski, headquarters of Baruten local council, to receive the new members.

He promised the defectors a level playing field, stressing that the SDP abhor imposition, high-handedness and cheating.

The chairman told the defectors that fairness, justice, and equity were the watchwords of the party.

The defectors in turn promised to erase the memory of APC from the local government after which they did a symbolic burning of the broom, the logo of the APC.

The state APC and ruling government are yet to react to the development.