Iliasu Ibrahim is the only member of Kwara House of Assembly that is yet to openly identify with the APC following Bukola Saraki's defection to the party. Ibrahim who was recently suspended by the House for allegedly threatening one of his colleagues, said his suspension was as a result of his refusal to defect to the APC . Excerpts:

Why did you decide to remain in PDP when other members of the House who were formerly in the party have defected to APC?

First and foremost, I cannot confirm or say categorically that I am the only PDP member that has refused to defect to APC. PDP members were 22 and we were all voted in, in 2011. This is my second term in the House of Assembly. I am in my seventh year now and I am a pioneer member of PDP, I am a founding member of PDP. I started PDP from day one that it was established in Nigeria and in Kwara State. So I want to believe that I have a lot of stake in PDP and I must not toy with the destiny of that party in Kwara State.

You said you are not sure you are the only PDP member in the House, but you are the only member who has publicly declared for PDP...

Others can afford not to protect the interest of the party but I personally cannot because of my involvement. Most of the members in the House of Assembly today are new members who know nothing about the party; they don't know the genesis of how the party came into existence. They are opportunists who only clinched the ticket to the House of Assembly on a platter of gold. So for somebody like me who has toiled so hard to build the party to the level it attained today, I cannot afford to dump the party like that. And let me tell you PDP does not belong to Bukola Saraki.

Does that mean others left on the order of Bukola Saraki?

Yes because they are all afraid of him. They thought Senator Bukola Saraki made them, but as far as I am concerned, I made Senator Bukola Saraki.

How?

By organising, putting up everything to make sure he secured the ticket of the party in 2003 and eventually became the governor of the state. So in 2003, none of these members knew how Bukola Saraki became the governor. The Speaker of the House of Assembly today, Abdulrazak Atunwa was nowhere in 2003. The governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed was nowhere in the party. He is not a founding member of the party, he didn't know when PDP started in Kwara. So I still don't believe that I'm the only person that has refused to go with Senator Bukola Saraki to APC. I know others are there but as at now, they are trying to hide their heads. But I am sure when the time comes, they will all come out.

The issue is, they said one with God is a majority. If you say I am the only person, well I would admit that I have God on my side and with God everything can be possible. That's why since the exit of Senator Bukola Saraki into APC, you can see the influx of people into PDP.

But they have declared PDP dead in Kwara ... .

Yes that's their own belief, their own assumption. Senator Bukola Saraki is not a politician. He is an opportunist and he wouldn't know and you know politics is a game of number and 2+2 mathematically is 4 but in politics it could be 100. We know we have the people on ground. PDP is waxing stronger and we are still very much alive in Kwara State and I can assure you that come 2015 by the special grace of God, PDP will win in Kwara.

You were recently suspended from the House. Would you say it is as a result of your refusal to dump the PDP?

Quite obviously, it is a clear issue and I'll take you down the memory lane. August 31, 2013 during our national convention was the day Senator Bukola Saraki, the governor and other delegates from Kwara along with other six states walked out of the convention ground. In the case of Kwara, by the time Bukola and his people walked away, I was the only person that remained in the Kwara pavilion. I didn't move out of the venue. I remained until the election was concluded. It was when I got to my hotel room in the night that I discovered that Kwara and some other states have gone to form New PDP. There was no consultation, no discussion of any kind, they just took that decision on their own and at my age, my level, my exposure, nobody can just pick me like Malu (cow) and say you are taking me to another party. That happens to be the beginning of my problem because they knew I was the only person that stayed behind. After the convention, I came out openly that I'm not a member of New PDP. From there, they started planning to see how I could be silenced. To be precise on September 10, the Speaker through the majority leader invited us to his residence in GRA Ilorin and when we got there, all the members started pledging their loyalty to the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki in Kwara saying wherever Senator Bukola Saraki is going, that is where they will all go. So I was the only person who came out there clearly that I am not loyal to Bukola in any form; that I am a member of PDP, authentic PDP and on no account should I be counted among those saying that wherever Bukola Saraki is going, that is where...no, over my dead body, I'll never. They should see me clearly as a different human being among them all. My loyalty is to my party, the PDP and to my Almighty Allah.

By 26th of November when Bukola and the governor and others declared they are going to APC, two days after I also went to the air to announce that the exit of Senator Bukola Saraki and the governor is a blessing to the people of Kwara state. And on the 30th I equally went to the air again to invite all the leaders, elders, stakeholders of the party to a meeting at our state headquarters, Ilorin to discuss on the way forward because we cannot leave a vacuum knowing well that Bukola and the governor had moved to APC with the existing Exco on ground and I don't even expect wa Exco to do otherwise because the chairman did not even win his polling booth in 2011 election.

I think the people of Kwara State will decide where they would be when the time comes. So by December 2, they now sent me a letter that somebody wrote petition against me that I alleged that person was organising thugs to come and attack me or kill me, that is all. And this act was not committed on the floor of the house, we were on recess then, we were not even in the office when somebody called me and I have the right to ask him. So the issue is not an Assembly matter, it is personal. So if the man involved wants to take it up, then he would have gone to court or to take me to the police. So this issue happened on November 8 and they compiled all my actions and by December 2, they put up one Kangaroo committee to investigate and they said because of that I should be suspended for three months without pay. The point is; do they even have the right to suspend me? I'll definitely seek redress in the court of law. So the issue of suspension was purely a conspiracy against me just because I have refused to go with them to APC. Of course they know my political stand in Kwara State and we have a lot of people that matter when you talk of PDP in Kwara State. We have Professor Oba Abdulraheem, we have Kunle Sulyman, we have Senator Ajadi, we have John Dara, we have Senator Simeon Ajibola and a host of others.

You worked together with Senator Bukola, at what point did you part ways?

I have no quarrel with him. The only thing is that I cannot abandon my party, the party I contested election in 2007 and 2011 and won. And for just no cause should I just abandon that party, what would be my reason? I need to be convinced.

Are you saying those who defected to APC don't have any cogent reason?

They don't have. All I know is that probably Bukola wants to be president and he thinks the only way he could go is double-dealing.

But they complained about the leadership style of the national chairman?

What of his (Bukola's) own leadership in Kwara?

Here in Kwara there is no democracy we all know it. The whole world knows that the only state where there is no democracy at all is Kwara. Here is selection. We have never gone through the normal process in Kwara. If we are talking of a particular environment or a state where democracy never existed at all is Kwara. We are just in a very hopeless society.