A member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, representing Ojomu/Balogun constituency of Offa, Hon. Saheed Popoola has expressed fear over the unending crisis rocking All Progressive Congress (APC) kwara chapter say it may lead to the end of the party in the state.
Hon. Saheed, said this while addressing journalists at a personality programme tagged ‘Newskeg’ organized by the Correspondents’ Chapel of NUJ, kwara Council, held at their secretariat, Muritala Moh’d road, Ilorin.
In his words “I always says one thing, I am not a trouble maker, I also want to be a friend of Governor, but when things are not right, one have to be courageous and make a level of redirection by saying it out, we will not be living for life, but history will surely remember us, where is Baba Awolowo, MKO Abiola, today? What we are talking about them now is history, It’s important to live for something in life. I want to be remember as somebody who believes in righteousness”
“It’s obvious that we have a lot of divides in Kwara APC, we are in two factions, and I will keep saying it that the basis of divide is leader of the party ‘Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’ who supposed to be a unifying factor, but unfortunately he is the divider of the party, this, I said in many foray and I can say it anywhere”
“We started the Otoge struggle with a lot of efforts all of us did it together with one mind, but at the end of the day, immediately we came on board, what we heard from the Governor was that Alhaji Lai Mohammed did not worked for me, I want to remove Hon Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa (BOB) as party chairman, Saheed Popoola must not be speaker, something that all of us did together in unison, but at the end of the day, this is what resulted to ‘APC Loyal’ that are led by our chairman Hon. BOB”
“Who knows, the crisis Governor started might even be intentional, in order for him to be on top of all affairs, because when you are together with somebody like Lai Mohammed, BOB, Professor Shuaib Oba AbdulRaheem, Akogun Oyedepo and others with sharp intellect, when you are in meting with them, you would know that you are talking to intellectuals and you can not just tell them anything, they won’t take it. So, he decided to cause crisis, in order for him to dodge us through that way”
“Unfortunately, the National leadership of our party did not do well in this crisis, and I keep saying it that our crisis is likely to be the beginning of the end of APC in Kwara State, because even the National that supposed to be arbiter in this case have taken side because they said party belongs to the Governors. But, they should remember that they took side in Adamawa and Bauchi and they lost, if it remains like that in this state, it’s likely that the same history will repeat itself”
“Governors are not God, we are not anybody’s puppet here, and that was the reason for the creation of ‘APC Loyal’ where can you see ‘APC Loyal’ in Nigeria? You should know that we are up to the game and ready, we are not leaving the party, we have fundamental right of freedom of association, what I am saying in this case is that, it’s the Governor that can do genuine reconciliation, if at all it will happen”
“We are APC Loyal, they said we don’t have party, no problem, during elections, they will know if we have party or not”
“The almighty Governors of Nigeria are our major problem in this country, they are too powerful and selfish, let look at what they are doing to the President on Electoral Amendment Bill, unfortunately, we have not know our enemies in this country, until we know that the ‘Governors Forum’ is the basis of our problems in Nigeria. Give the autonomy to the House of Assembly, they said No, despite that a law has been passed, president even said Executive Order 10 should be implemented, so that, the autonomy of House of Assembly and Judiciary can be implemented, they said No, for the past 2 years. So, when Governor said you can not become a speaker, what can you do? but I could have done my worst, if not Asiwaju Tinubu, that called me and said, Saheed, I don’t want to hear any noise from kwara through your speakership contest, and I kept quiet. I have hired 3 Senior Advocate Nigeria (SAN) to go to Court and make sure that the rule of the House is entrenched, as the only returning lawmaker in the House”
“I am the first person to contest under APC in the whole of Nigeria, immediately the party was formed in 2013, I had my election as chairman of Offa local government council, just one month after, so I have every right to talk about APC, because the way the party is going most importantly at the National level, it is not speaking well of progressive, you can see court ruling on the governorship election held in Anambra, and I said it when they were concocting figure that Andy Uba won primary election, I know of my friend George Moghalu that contested the primary and he did not even see materials for that election and you were declaring somebody a winner of election that never took place in real sense”
“The court now said APC did not participate in Anambra election. This is the work of our almighty Governors, I think they have hijacked the party and they have put the party on a part of sliding, only God can save APC at the moment. They have hijacked and destroyed the party, they can not even fix a date for convention. Look at how PDP is getting their activities right, maybe it’s because they have suffered a lot of setbacks and their sense is very straight now, they are doing everything correctly”
Back to kwara “Let me tell you, kwarans will further teach Nigerians, a better ways to vote in 2023, they did in Otoge, and people now know that Kwara is not a dullard state. ‘That is how outsiders refer to us in the past’ this time around they will know better, by the time they see different party emerging at different level of elective positions, we are better informed and politically conscious”
Hon. Saheed, a serving member of the 9th Assembly, eulogized the ingeniousness of the Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi, the speaker of the state House of Assembly said “I have no regret of not being a speaker, because I am enjoying, Hon. Yakubu, as if I am the one there. I love him and I cooperate maximally with him and other members. He is a young guy, but very very intelligent, excessively intelligent, he is doing what I could have done, if I happen to be a speaker. He knows where to start and stop but, unfortunately for the 9th Assembly, the influences of the Governor is overbearing”
Talking on the suspension of the only PDP member in the Assembly, Hon. Jimoh Agboola, “the opposition in the state is too weak, it’s not for Agboola to be talking, it’s the party that supposed to be shouting, I don’t know of a party that they would suspend its member and you keep quite, they just leave the guy to his fate. Let me now tell you why I would still repeat it that the leadership of the 9th Assembly is very fantastic, as I am talking to you, I don’t believe Hon. Agboola is on suspension, because he is taking his salaries, all his allowances, all his entitlement is being given to him by leadership of the party, led by Rt. Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi, we even traveled to Kigali in Rwanda together, there is nothing they are doing in the House that they don’t call him, the only little different is probably, he has not been allowed to attend plenary. Just like I said, there are some external influence on this matter, and they need to be cautioned, Legislative House is an autonomous arm of government. A member of a parliament can not be suspended by his colleagues from another constituencies, it’s a Supreme Court judgement”
Responding to question on recent visit to Tinubu in Lagos by some APC members in the state, “yes, Tinubu, our leader, after he returned, from medical treatment in abroad, almost every APC member in Nigeria wanted to see him, and we shouted for his attention through, Professor Shuaib Oba, that, we the ‘APC Loyal’ in Kwara want to come and greet you and he granted our request, he received us well and chatted with us for over 5 hours, said so many things. Let me said this, the only person that is bringing unity to APC today in Nigeria is Tinubu, and we are telling all those that are ganging up against him that they will surely meet brick wall, all of them, including those that he mentored and now doing some unimaginable things behind him, their permutation is a disaster in-waiting, it’s a time bomb in APC”
The lawmaker, who said he has touched many lives as politician and performed excellently well as public office holder, disclosed that he will be contesting for the Red Chamber in 2023 “I will be contesting for kwara South Senate, come 2023, and my reason is very simple, we are of opinions that offa deserved a second term, and I believe that I can do better than the current occupier”
