Kwara APC Crisis: Lai Mohammed Faction Vows To Work Against Party

Crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has assumed another dimension with the faction loyal to Alhaji Lai Mo­hammed, Minister of Information, threatening to work against the party’s interests.

This decision, follows what they termed as bias by the Caretaker/Convention Planning Committee of the party led by Gov­ernor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.

Also, the said aggrieved members have threatened not to allow the forthcom­ing party membership registration exercise scheduled for this January to hold in the state over the removal of Bashir Bolarinwa, the chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, who is loyal to the minister.

ALSO READ : APC LG Aspirant Drags DSIEC To Court

Bolarinwa, who has not been on the same page with the state governor, AbdulRahman Abdul­Razak, was removed by the nation­al caretaker committee led by Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, on Tuesday and replaced with Abdullahi Samari, the deputy chairman of the party in the state, who is in the governor’s camp. ­

With Samari’s appoint­ment, the governor has effec­tively taken charge of Kwara State chapter of the party.

Daily Independent also gathered that supporters of Lai Mohammed, who are cur­rently occupying positions in his cabinet, may be shown the way out.

Lai Mohammed and Gov­ernor AbdulRazak have been at loggerheads over the leadership of the party in the state, a situation that has pitched their supporters against one another.

While the minister’s camp claimed that he is the party leader based on his long years in the party and his role in the ‘O To Ge’ movement which led to the victory of the APC in the governorship election, the governor’s camp is insist­ing that AbdulRazak is the au­thentic party leader based on his position as the governor of the state.

Speaking with Daily Inde­pendent, a credible source in the party said the minister may seek an audience with President Muhammadu Bu­hari over alleged bias by the Buni-led Caretaker Committee.

According to him, rather than reconcile the warring factions, the action by Gover­nor Buni has clearly shown that he is taking sides with his colleague, the Kwara State governor, a development that may further deepen the crisis in the state.

He said: “By removing Bolarinwa, the caretaker chairman of the APC in the state and replacing him with the governor’s loyalist, Gov­ernor Buni has clearly shown that he is a biased umpire and he is taking sides with his colleague, the governor of Kwara State.

“If you recall, when the NEC dissolved the state exco, it said the current leadership should be converted to Care­taker Committee and none of the chairmen were removed.

“Why should Bolarinwa, the chairman of Kwara APC, be singled out for removal?

“It clearly shows you that the national leadership has already taken position in this crisis and that, to me, is very unfortunate.

“We have already asked the minister to petition or seek an audience with President Bu­hari, the leader of the party. The president knows the role Alhaji Lai Mohammed played in the defeat of the PDP and the dethroning of the Saraki dynasty.

“He will do that this week before the nationwide mem­bership registration.
I’m afraid that if nothing is done, then I don’t see how the APC membership regis­tration will hold in the state because it is clear that the governor will manipulate the process to lock out those who are not in his camp.”

Reacting to the developments, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, a party leader in the state, who is in the camp of the minis­ter, accused the governor of orchestrating the removal of Bolarinwa so as to hijack the party’s structures.

He said members of the Kwara APC heard it as a ru­mour until they came face to face with the Secretary of the National Caretaker Com­mittee, Akpanudoedehe, on January 12, 2021, when he told them that the caretaker committee had removed Bo­larinwa on January 11, 2021, and had given a letter of ap­pointment to his deputy, Hon. Samari Abdullahi.

He also appealed to Presi­dent Buhari to save the party from “the imminent destruc­tion that the decision can en­gender in Kwara”.

Oyedepo added: “We have resolved to reject the verdict of the National Caretaker Committee on the purported removal of Hon. Bashir Omo­laja Bolarinwa.

“It is worth nothing more than the value of the paper on which the letter given to Hon. Sanmari Abdulahi is written. It certainly shall not work in Kwara State, no matter who is behind it.

“Though when we told the secretary that the decision could sink the party in the state, he said they really do not care.

“And he repeated during the conversation more than five times that he was acting under the instructions of the chairman, Buni.

“We shall prove to those that aborted the people’s rev­olution, foisting on our party the present situation since 2018, that Kwara is not an ap­pendage of any outside power conspiracy.

They continue to compro­mise our noble cause with these unacceptable decisions and we shall henceforth prove to those that are not popular at home but rather rely on political manipulations from outside that the game is up.”

However, the senator rep­resenting Kwara North Sena­torial District, Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar, on Tuesday, said the combined forces of Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Sen­ator Gbemi Saraki, Minister of State for Transportation, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot stop the re-election of Governor Ab­dulRazak in 2023.

The senator said the gover­nor had performed creditably well since assuming office, adding that any attempt to overthrow his government may plunge the state into mayhem.

He said contrary to insinu­ations in some quarters, Gov­ernor AbdulRazaq was not behind Bolarinwa’s removal as the party’s chief.

When asked who the APC chairman in Kwara is, the senator said based on the di­rectives of the party’s nation­al leadership, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi is the leader.

“No, I don’t think the gov­ernor is responsible. It is the party followers, citizens, el­ders, stakeholders.

“In fact, everyone in the state is worried that we have two leaders in a state.

“One is the governor, who is the first citizen and is responsible for citizens in that state, and our own party chairman who is equally a leader in that state,” he added.

He also said the governor, who is a grassroots leader, en­joys the support of the three senators in the state, five out of the six House of Represen­tatives members, and 22 out of the 24 members of the state House of Assembly.

“Honestly speaking, no­body can stop the governor from getting re-elected and almost everybody knows that, including those who disagree with him.