Cracks are visible within members of the state executive and the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State and former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.
This medium learnt authoritatively that the brewing crisis of confidence between the party executives and Saraki emanated from the way the campaign funds for the 2023 general elections were handled.
The PDP executives were said to have little or no information about the funding of the last general elections in the state.
The executives, it was gathered at a meeting held in Ilorin, the state capital on June 1, 2023 to review the performance of the PDP in the last general elections realised that the abysmal performance of the party was due to inadequate funding.
A top official of the PDP in the state who pleaded anonymity confirmed the friction between the executive and Saraki to this medium.
“Yes, there is a serious friction between us and our leader, Dr Bukola Saraki over the handlings of party affairs and our poor outing during the 2023 general elections. At our meeting on June 1,2023, we traced our failure in the last election to poor funding.
“The State Working Committee(SWC) of the PDP met on Thursday, 1st June 2023 at the state party secretariat to delibrate on some of the reasons that led to the party’s woeful performance in the last election
“They (SWC) are of the opinion that the major factor that led to total failure at the poll was the issue of fund.
“Normally, election funds from the National Secretariat of the party ought to come through the state party chairman. The state chairman and members of the SWC know nothing about how the money was collected and how it was expended/disbursed during the election. It is crystal clear that the election was grossly underfunded compared to what Abuja dropped.”
The source added:” Another crucial point that came up at the meeting was that the executives decried how Saraki single-handedly picked almost all the candidates, all in the name of concensus without any input from the state executives and other party leaders. This did not go down well with most of the party supporters and stakeholders, and it led to apathy and lack of enthusiasm among party members during the election.
“Part of the resolutions was that Saraki should be counseled to emulate his colleagues or other leaders in the neighbouring states like Benue, Niger and Kogi who are mere advisers to the party executives. Party executive functions were not hijacked in those states. That Saraki should be an adviser and placed himself in a position to be consulted where and when necessary.”
