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The crisis rocking All Progressives Congress (APC) Kwara State chapter was on Monday took another dimension when some stakeholders in the party alleged the acting State Chairman of the party, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa and others of pursuing destructive agenda.
The meeting which held at the Kwara Hotel Hall, Ilorin in the presence of party elders and members cut across the sixteen Local Government Areas in the state alleged that Bolarinwa and his co-travellers has never hide the fact that they are out to pull down Governor AbdulRazaq Government.
According to the prepared speech read by one of the chieftains, Chief Sunday Fagbemi “For the past few months a number of events have occurred within our great party APC in Kwara State. Some members of our party have chosen to play to the gallery on issues of party administration or the performance of the government freely elected by the people of this state in 2019. We have watched and spoken to these persons in private for many months in our innocent belief that they were going to abandon selfish agenda for common growth and join hands with the administration to make life a lot better for our people”
“Having failed to listen to voice of reason and constantly turning history on its head to deceive unsuspecting members of the party and general public, we are compelled as party stakeholders and elders to stand up to be counted at this critical moment and set the record straight. This press briefing has therefore been called to make it clear that the Governor, humble, unassuming, and performing, is a victim of vicious attacks and blackmails from individuals who have long masked their greed, personal aggrandisement, ego, unbridled ambitions, and false sense of entitlement with claims that they are fighting for the party”
“The Governor and the silent majority of our party members and leaders are putting up with persons who feel that we owe our breaths and victory at the poll to them alone”
Jeunkosanwo and the emergence of AA support groups
“Unknown to many unsuspecting members of the public, the emergence of various groups that have declared support for the Governor was not without a justifiable background. It is to show that this performing Governor is not without patriots who felt that the only essence of Otoge was the service of the people. Other interests are secondary. For as long as the Governor does this, he has the full backing of the majority of party members, elders and the entire populace of Kwara State”
“Quite sadly, shortly after the inauguration of the Governor, some chieftains within the party started a campaign codenamed ‘jeunkosanwo’. This implied that the Governor was never going to have a second term, irrespective of his Sterling performance. They were ready to frustrate and distract the government just to realise their own selfish ambitions. Despite working against the Governor from day one of his administration, many of them felt it was their birthright to become the godfathers to the same Governor and handpick anyone for him”
“In the case of Akogun Oyedepo, he lobbied to be made the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in order to use same as a platform to clinch the prestigious rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). While this is not a crime, we feel anyone who wishes to be so honoured ought to show support for the Governor as a party person”
“Hon. BOB and other party chieftains never disguised their dislike for the Governor and his administration for reasons totally unconnected to development of the state. Contrary to decency and party rules, they go on radio to openly condemn the government of their own party. Had the Governor not endeared himself to the masses with his humility, simplicity and people-focus performance as can be seen in every part of the state, the insurrection by these persons were enough to bring down any government. Yet their anger was basically that the Governor was not giving them attention, which is not true”
“Several party chieftains and patriots in their own right therefore felt a need to stand with the Governor who is clearly being unfairly treated by those who ought to push aside personal gains and stand by him to rebuild the state for us and generations to come. This is why we have also come together to stand for the Governor! The people of Kwara State are totally in support of the Governor and his administration because he has made them the focus of governance”
Clarifications on caretaker committee and Supreme Court judgment
“We are not unaware of come erroneous impressions being created by these chieftains that the Supreme Court pronounced Hon. BOB as elected chairman with a tenure of four years. This is not true. The case was never decided on its merit by the Supreme Court. Rather the appeal to the Supreme Court by Balogun Fulani was dismissed because it was not properly entered before the court as required by the rules of the Supreme Court. Furthermore, the substance of the case had nothing to do with election of Hon. BOB as party chairman. Rather, it was about the validity or otherwise of the dissolution of the Balogun Fulani-led executive by the APC National Working Committee and the appointment of a caretaker committee led by Hon. BOB”
“When the national headquarters of the party recently dissolved state executives, these party chieftains and their cohorts went to town to say that the Governor opposed the return of Hon. BOB. This is a joke taken too far because the Governor, as the leader of the party in the state, could have activated the relevant provisions of the party’s constitution to have the caretaker committee removed if he so wanted to. But it is clear he was never interested in removing anyone especially that party reforms is ongoing from the National Headquarters which had recently kickstarted the process for another rounds of congresses and national convention. We have mentioned this to disabuse the minds of our people. It is in fact not true that he does not consult with the party. He does and the records are there”
Otoge is our people’s battles, not anyone’s initiative
“The likes of Akogun and others have tried to personalise the Otoge struggle. This is dubious. For students of history, the Otoge campaign indeed predated this Republic! It is an idea that had long been etched in the minds of the people. Akogun joined the progressive folds only in 2003 or thereabouts when he fell out with the Sarakis. He was commissioner and House of Assembly Member through the patronage of the older Saraki. The Otoge struggle had long begun before then and the likes of the Governor had always been part of the struggle to free the state from what Akogun and others never thought was evil. It is particularly insulting for Prof. Oba and his ilks to lay credit for the struggle. Professor Oba only joined the struggle in 2014 after losing the governorship slot within the Bukola Saraki fiefdom”
“Why then would anyone from his own party go against him? The only explanation is that such persons are not interested in development but in their own hidden agenda which is at variance with the Otoge mantra. We have kept quiet for long in the expectation that good reason will prevail. But silence is no longer golden and it is about time every patriot, within and outside our party, stood by this humble and hard working gentleman in order not to allow a few persons persons with dangerous sense of entitlement and greed to erode the historic gains of 2019”
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