BIOLA AZEEZ writes on the festering crisis within the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), even as parties to the crisis appear not to be ready to sheath their swords.
WHEN the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was dislodged from power in Kwara State in the aftermath of the 2019 general election, the impression was that its traducer, the All Progressives Congress (APC), had come to permanently alter the shape and course of politics in the state. However, and to the consternation of many political watchers, cracks in the former main opposition party in the state did not take a long time to show up. Hardly had the dust raised by the elections settled down and long before the inauguration of the then new Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq administration on May 29, 2019 had the sign began to show that things may not augur well within the party fold in the state.
Shortly after the electoral victory of the APC in the state, came the insinuation that there was friction in the state executive of the party, pitching the state chairman, Alhaji Bashir Bolarinwa, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed against the then newly-elected Governor Abdulrazaq and his team over allegations of inauguration finances, list of likely commissioner-nominees, party’s leadership control and political patronage.
There is an allegation of plan by the governor to take control of the party in the state being made by some members of the Bolarinwa-led state executive. However, loyalists of the governor had disabused as excuses or simple expression of rights of affected local government areas. The crisis recently took a twist when the chairman of the party was allegedly attacked by some people at Shao Town in Moro Local Government Area. Tuesday, last week, it was reported that some people suspected to be thugs attacked members of the state executive of the APC, an incident which has confirmed the deepening crisis in the state chapter of party.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that members of the Kwara APC executive, led by Bolarinwa, were attacked at Shao during a tour of the 16 local government areas in the state to thank members of the party for their support during the last general election and to sustain the support for the present administration in the state. The bus that conveyed the party chiefs were allegedly destroyed by the suspected party thugs, even as the people at the venue of the incident had to run for their dear lives.
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Some members of a group, called “AA Support Group”, alongside some youths, allegedly invaded the venue of the meeting and prevented Bolarinwa and members of his team from holding the planned meeting and attacked the bus that conveyed them to the venue. It was gathered that the windscreen of the bus was shattered by the attackers who were said to have also threatened to inflict bodily harm to the party chairman and his team.
Confirming the development, the state vice chairman of the party, Sunday Oyebiyi, described the attack as unfortunate, saying it could lead to the disintegration of the party in the state. He said police permit was obtained for the local government tour, particularly when some members were said to be against such an exercise.
Oyebiyi, who is also the zonal chairman (Kwara North) of the party and was among the entourage to Shao, said members of the party eagerly awaited the outcome of a proposed intervention by some party leaders in the crisis, even as he called on members to embrace peace and love in their dealings.
Meanwhile, Governor Abdulrazaq condemned the attack on the party chairman and his entourage to Shao, calling on the state police command to fish out all the perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly. The governor, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, described the attack as disturbing.
“We condemn in strongest terms possible the alleged attack on the state chairman of the APC, Honourable Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, allegedly by some hoodlums in Moro Local Government Area. This is very disturbing. The governor is very proud of the peaceful atmosphere in the state and seriously frowns at any action that might heat up the polity under whatever guise.
“He calls on the security agencies to, not just fish out those behind the attack, but to also make sure they face the full weight of the law. For the record, the state faces many developmental issues and the governor has no time for anything that does not add value to the lives of the people he has been elected to govern,” the statement read.
The police are yet to unravel the twists and turns that surrounded the attack. While awaiting the possible result of the proposed intervention by APC party elders to settle the lingering crisis, some aggrieved members of the Kwara APC executive leveled allegations of high-handedness against the party chairman, threatening to pursue justice to any available and right quarters in the land.
Meanwhile, while the issues raised in the crisis are yet to be resolved, some members of the party executive, again, accused Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, of running the party in the state as a private business. This was as a group within the party said those behind the allegation were sponsored by a “divisive script author”.
The aggrieved Kwara APC executive members also accused the state chairman of running the party like a sole administrator. Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the APC leaders, including Abdullahi Samari Abubakar (deputy chairman), Salman Mustapha lsowo (secretary), Olabanji Olayemi (Kwara South senatorial chairman), Folaranmi Aro, (publicity secretary) and Oyinloye Oyelere (youth leader), said the party had been enmeshed in internal schism occasioned by expression of dissatisfaction against the leadership of the state party chairman.
“Unfortunately, rather than address the sundry issues that bother on the lack of equity, fairness, sanctity of the provisions of the party’s constitution and our demand for same, a cabal within the party executive, led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the state chairman, Bashir Bolarinwa, are deliberately diverting attention from the real issues and instead blaming some imaginary forces for the rising opposition against their autocratic leadership,” the APC leaders alleged.
They further accused the party chairman of recklessness, saying, “As at today, there is no evidence of a properly documented record of the party’s financial transactions. No records of inflow and outflow of funds, no evidence of compliance with the principle of internal control.”
However, members of a political group within the party loyal to the APC chairman and the Minister of Information, under the aegis of the Kwara APC Integrity Vanguards (KAIV), described the allegations as being illogical, “drawn from speculations against the party chairman and the minister with a sinister motives to heat up party politics in the state.”
The group, in a statement signed by its national coordinator and publicity secretary, Abdullahi Yinka Onimasa and Kayode Aliyu Bamidele, respectively, said the party leaders were acting on a divisive script of their sponsor, “targetting our state chairman, Bashir Bolarinwa, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and other notable leaders of our party who have invested their times, energies and resources, but have today become targets of their daily verbal missiles.”
The group said Bolarinwa did not mismanage the party funds which came in form of donations, asking, “How else will Bolarinwa be expected to be transparent when the party operating guidelines require not less than three party officials, including the secretary who is part of these aggrieved executives, to sign cheque books? Where then is sincerity in their agitations when they turned their backs to deny party’s decision which they were not only part of but also benefited from?”
Speaking in Ilorin, the state APC chairman, Alhaji Bashir Bolarinwa, confirmed the simmering crisis among the party leadership. He added that there was a disconnect among the major stakeholders across board in the party in the state.
As accusations and counter-accusations over the cracks in the APC family in Kwara State rage, the concern of the people of the state bothers on the possible effect on their lives. This was as they prayed against the crisis affecting the delivery of the dividends of democracy to the populace.
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