Minister of National Planning, Dr. Olanrewaju Sulaiman, has said he would lead the struggle to liberate Kwara State from the grip of a former governor, Bukola Saraki.

Sulaiman made the statement in Abuja, on Saturday evening, at a prayer/reception held for him in the Utako area of Abuja by Kwara State indigenes who were members and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan mandated him to take the state from Saraki last week Wednesday after he was sworn in as minister.

He said, “After being sworn in as minister, President Jonathan mandated me to be at the forefront of the rescue operation our party is set to carry out in our dear state, Kwara, for the greatest good of the greatest number of people of the state.

“Our people have over the years been subjected to political slavery and internal colonialism by forces currently ruling the state through a stolen mandate.

“While giving me the mandate, the president said, ‘you are coming in at a time that can be described as injury time in a football match, requiring a very vital goal from you which you must score to deliver Kwara back to PDP come 2015 general elections’.”

He described the crowd that attended the reception hosted in his honour as a clear indication that his mission would be successful.

He also said that two chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State had defected to the PDP shortly after he was sworn in as minister.

He said the defectors included a former Senator and a Senior Special Assistant to Senator Bukola Saraki when he was governor of the state.

He said the defectors would be unveiled in Ilorin at a grand reception planned for him by party supporters after the Sallah celebration.

He denied rumours that the party had been in crisis in the state because of his appointment, stressing that the party had been more united and stronger since May this year, when the Freedom rally was held in Ilorin with unprecedented crowd of supporters.