Date: 2013-12-30

The Chairman, Federal Character Commission (FCC), Professor Shuaib Abdulraheem, Sunday said the defection of the former governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki and the incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Party (APC) would not stop the PDP from winning elections in the state.

The assertion came as Saraki insisted that the move by himself and other members of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (New PDP) to join the APC was geared towards ensuring the well-being of Nigerians.

But Abdulraheem, who fielded questions from journalists in Ilorin at the weekend, after addressing a crowd of PDP members at his Ajikobi Central Ward in Ilorin West Local Government Area, said: “I think it is part of the democratic processes that people will align and realign, merge and disengage".

According to him, "But we say in this country, in a context, it is very beautiful thing for democracy. In fact, I as Chairman, Federal Character Commission applaud it as a welcome decision. As you can see every party has something of the other parts of the country within its own fold.”

“So, the issue and the pillar of the integration of the nation towards national understanding through a dialogue is already taking place. If all Nigerians of all shades and colours are in PDP and go on the other side my uncle is there, your aunty is there, then we are now building a very stable polity.

"We are now practising democracy in the spirit in which the founding fathers of our country have actually envisaged.”

Meanwhile, Saraki, while speaking at a public lecture and dinner organised by a group of Ilorin Emirate indigenes, under the aegis of Klob 27, said: “Those in the struggle were prepared to face ‘some discomfort’. The struggle is for the liberation of the Nigerian people that can come with.”
The former governor, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, said: “The time has come that we must tell ourselves the truth and change the path of this country.

"This is a great country that has a lot of potentials. We all sit in our rooms and we complain and moan, we moan about corruption, we moan about impunity, we moan about this, we moan about that.”