Gbemisola Saraki dumps PDP, moves to APC

Senator Gbemisola Saraki has left the PDP and
moved to APC. Gbemisola, who vied for the PDP
governorship ticket in Kwara state and lost,
announced her defection and that of her
followers in a statement she released today April
7th. Senator Gbemisola among other things
accused the PDP of female victimization. Her
statement in part below...
"I come before you for a formal
declaration of our move to the All
Progressives Congress (APC). This is not
to underplay the reality that we have
joined the APC a fortnight ago, just before
the presidential and national assembly
elections, but I believe I owe you the
obligation to formally announce this move
to you as a deep respect for your love
and your support of the GRS Movement
over the year.
This decision is a product of wide consultations
with members of the GRS political family that
cut across all the sixteen (16) local government
areas of the state on the one hand and the
leadership of APC on the other. It was in
furtherance of this that on the eve of the
presidential and national assembly elections, I
had asked all my supporters to troop out and
vote for all the candidates of the APC. Let me
seize this opportunity to thank our supporters
for heeding the clarion call and congratulate
them as well as all members of the APC for a
historic victory.
When we joined Kwara PDP, it was for the main
reason of enlarging these inalienable values and
re-engineering the processes of leadership
through the party in order to mirror the true
aspirations of Kwarans. Considering the
circumstance of the party at the state level, we
knew we had to work harder and make sacrifices
to deliver a party that would represent the
yearning of our people.
Considering the circumstance of the party at the
state level, we knew we had to work harder and
make sacrifices to deliver a party that would
represent the yearning of our people. However,
the ensuing pattern of animosity within PDP was
strongly placing our ideology on the cross hair of
political attacks by elements within the party.
Furthermore, the party was evidently hijacked
from evolving into a political force that can
accommodate the broad interests of the people,
but allowed to tarry to the selfish ambitions of
some elements within its fold.
The last straw, however, was the failure of the
PDP to respect the place of women in politics as
a basis of an inclusive template of leadership.
Like no other time in our collective struggle for
equity and fair play have women suffered so
much relegation in the political system in the
country and especially in the state.
The APC has shown that it believes in ensuring
that women are treated with respect and dignity
and assisted to excel in the political arena as
shown by the emergence of the Taraba state
gubernatorial candidate. “We therefore have
come to the sad realisation that the seeming
marginalisation of women in the PDP is deeply
embedded in the party system and leadership
and all attempts to cause a change from within
have been met with brick walls and blatant
prejudices against women leadership.
“The choice was therefore clear – a constricted,
backward vision of Kwara, which the opposition
represents, or a bold step into the future that
guarantees fairness, justice and hope. Thus, the
move from the PDP into the APC was an easy
decision for us, considering our history with PDP
and our vision for our future.”