The reported defection of about 2,500 supporters of the 2011 Kwara State governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Dele Belgore (SAN), to the Peoples Democratic Party and a documentary award said to have been won by the Shonga Farms have stirred a fresh round of controversy in the state.

There is also an indication that internal wrangling has hit the state PDP and this, according to analysts, may snowball into a revolt against the leader of the party in the state and immediate governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

The PDP had claimed that about 2,500 ACN members under the aegis of Mohammed Dele Belgore Forum in Oke-Ogun, Okaka I and II, Akanbi III, IV and V and Balogun-Fulani III wards of Ilorin South Local Government Area had defected to its fold.

It further claimed that during a reception for the defectors at the PDP state secretariat on Pategi Road, GRA, Ilorin, the defectors tore the MDB banner and a flag of the ACN to attest to their rejection of Belgore and ACN.

It also claimed that the leader of the defectors, AbdulAzeez Kassim, said the party faithful had been the architects and foot soldiers of Belgore and the series of defeat of the PDP in the council area.

The state Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Isola Balogun-Fulani, and the PDP chairman in Ilorin South, Adamu Mohammed, were said to have been among the PDP leaders that received the defectors.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Abdulwahab Oba, later claimed that Saraki, who is currently the senator representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District, welcomed the defectors and promised that they would be treated fairly and accorded all the privileges enjoyed by older members of the PDP.

But Belgore, through his aide, Rafiu Ajakaiye, dismissed the PDP’s claim and maintained that the defection story lacked merit.

“You can see that there are many contradictions in the syndicated story. While some claimed that 3,000 people defected, some said no, it is 2,500. Also, we are aware that nearly all the correspondents of credible media houses were not at the so-called defection ceremony. Were they excluded from the event for fear that they could ask questions capable of tearing down the lies behind the whole jamboree?

“The leader of the so-called defectors said they belonged to the Dele Belgore Forum. It is on record that no such group existed among our ranks,” Ajakaiye said.

But the state PDP Secretary, Mr. Yemi Afolayan, insisted that 2,500 ACN members who were supporters of Belgore actually defected to the PDP. He said the defectors claimed that Belgore had been unable to fulfil his promises to them and was not interested in their welfare.

Afolayan said the youths claimed they were impressed by the empowerment the PDP had been giving to its supporters. He stated that Belgore, though an erudite lawyer, was not a politician.

“It is correct to say that supporters of Belgore defected to the PDP. We received 2,500 defectors from the ACN and they changed their garments to that of PDP. Specifically, they were the foot soldiers of Belgore. They tore the garment of Belgore.

“Ordinarily, Belgore will deny it because he is not a politician. He is a lawyer. They are in the legal profession in that family. But for Belgore to take a foray into the politics of Kwara is a misnomer.

“So, that Belgore and the ACN have lost in Kwara is not a new thing because we know they will always lose out,” Afolayan said.

But Ajakaiye said Belgore as a politician did not believe in deception. According to him, Belgore is currently in politics because of the urgent need to rescue the country and its people from the ruins inflicted on Nigerians by their fellows, whose wasteful lifestyles are not sustained by their hard work, but their access to the public treasury.

Prior to the defection saga, the state had been engulfed in claims and counter-claims that the Shonga Farms had won an international award.

Oba had claimed that ‘A Farm for Africa’, a film on the Shonga initiative, won a Grand Prix at the International Festival of Corporate Film and TV on Ecology and Sustainable Development, held in Deauville, France recently. He said the film won the Grand Prix Award in the Agriculture and Green Economics category.

But Ajakaiye said the documentary did not win any award.

He demanded that the state government and Saraki should apologise to the residents for allegedly giving them a wrong piece of information.

Also, the state Chairman, Congress for Progressive Change, Alhaji Suleiman Buhari, faulted the government’s claim. He alleged that the government just wasted money on the film project.

“We are reliably informed that a whopping N24.75m was wasted on the production of a film conceived just to boost the elitist ego of Saraki. Only a profligate government and one with poor foresight and vision will embark on this kind of socially worthless public stunt let alone celebrate it as a validation of foresight.

“And to say that this amount is exclusive of the estacode and other travelling allowances of the lying information managers of the governor is to say the least reckless and wasteful,” Buhari said.

But Ahmed’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, insisted that the document actually won an award at the international event, adding that the government was prudent in its transactions.

Yet, another dimension to the raging hullabaloo is that the state PDP has been engulfed in an internal wrangling. Some members of the PDP were said to be revolting against Saraki, who stepped into the shoes of his father, Olusola, as the political leader of the state after the latter’s demise last November. The party members reportedly claimed that they no longer owed any allegiance to Saraki.

Some political observers said the development was novel in the politics of the state, which was hitherto predominantly monolithic, such that the late Olusola dominated the Kwara political landscape for over four decades. He determined who took what position from ward to state level as well as members of the National Assembly and other federal appointments for Kwara without any form of opposition.

A political commentator and social critic, Alhaji Olola Kasum, said the alleged revolt against Saraki and the internal wrangling in the PDP were welcome developments.

According to him, the Saraki dynasty and the PDP have impoverished the residents. He claimed that the state had not witnessed commensurate development to its available resources.

A source, however, said the wrangling in PDP and the recent leadership crisis in the ACN were allegedly orchestrated by some PDP chiefs in the state.

According the source, the party bigwigs felt it was necessary to destabilise the PDP and also hijack the leadership machinery of the opposition working to merge under the All Progressives Congress.

He said the party supporters would defect to the APC according to the emerging political development at the federal level, especially if President Goodluck Jonathan contests the 2015 election and blocks the return of power to the North.

He said if Jonathan contested, many aggrieved PDP members would defect to the APC. He added that the APC would brighten the chances of a northerner becoming the next president. He reasoned that it was better to align with the APC because many politicians from the North will embrace the party if Jonathan contests.

Saraki’s close aide, Alhaji Kayode Yusuf, said there was no revolt against the ex-governor. He said the Sarakis had transformed the state and improved the welfare of the citizens. He also said that there was no crisis in the PDP in the state.

“It is not true that people are revolting against Saraki. Who are they? What power do they have? Who are their supporters? The Saraki family has transformed the state tremendously. They are creating avenues for people to make their lives better.

“Our party is intact. We have been having our normal meetings. We do not tolerate disloyalty. If we see anybody who wants to be disloyal, we will invite and caution him. But we have never invited anybody for any reason. There is no crisis in the party. We see ourselves as one big family,” Yusuf said.

Also, Afolayan said it was “arrant nonsense” to suggest that some PDP members were revolting against Saraki. He claimed that there was no wrangling in the PDP, saying party is one big family.