Congress: Kwara APC faction threatens legal option

A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, led by Chief Bashir Bolarinwa, has threatened to take the legal option to resolve the alleged crisis that followed recently conducted party congresses in the state.

It is recalled that the national leadership of the party had on Monday recognized leadership of Alhaji Isola Balogun-Fulani as the APC state chairman in Kwara state after the appeal committee panel sat on the recently held party congresses in the state.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, the factional publicity secretary of the party, Chief Kayode Oyin-Zubair, alleged that members of the party were prevented from obtaining nomination forms by the state executive of the party prior to the Congress.

The development, he said, led to the faction holding its parallel state congress at Arca Santa event centre, Ilorin, while the other faction led by Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani held its congress at the banquet hall of the Government House, Ilorin.

“We must restate here, what led to the Arca Santa congress.

We had a running battle with the Balogun- Fulani led APC executive committee during the ward congress when we were looking for nomination forms after we had successfully paid prescribed fees by the national secretariat into designated banks.

“There and then, we decided that to prevent loss of lives, having seen the desperate move of the faction, we did the local government of May 12, 2018, separately across the state. Our congress was not only well attended, it had all relevant agencies of government saddled with the responsibility of overseeing party activities in attendance”, he said.

He argued that his faction held its state congress at a right venue, saying that venue of the Congress by the other faction did not conform to party guidelines.

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” The party guideline for the Congress was explicit. It says that the election shall take place at the party’s state headquarters of APC.

If for any reason, such place becomes unsuitable, the State Congress Committee shall identify a convenient and conducive venue for the state congress (provided it is not private residence or office) “, he said.

The APC faction also urged the national publicity secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, to encourage national working committee NWC of the party to use political solution to resolve the crisis like it happened in Oyo state.

The factional publicity secretary said that the group remained determined in the pursuit of the matter, adding that nothing had changed.