A chieftain of the All Progressive Congress in Kwara State, Barr. Akogun Iyiola Akogun has alleged that the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, is putting all mechanism in place to block the inauguration of the erstwhile Party Chairman, Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa as the newly constituted caretaker committee chair.
Akogun disclosed this in a press briefing held at the party secretariat in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on Thursday.
Recall that the National Executive Council of the Party had Tuesday approved the immediate dissolution of the party organs at the polling units, wards, local government, states and zonal levels as well as the non National Working Committee component of the National Executive Committee as well as their immediate reconstitution and composition of the dissolved EXCOs to serve in their respective offices in a caretaker committee capacity but excluding the non-NWC members of NEC.
However, Akogun pointed that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had gone to the National Headquarters of the Party to urge the National Caretaker Committee to exempt Bolarinwa from the swearing-in ceremony on the ground that Kwara Executive of 2018 was not a product of a congress.
Akogun, a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state before the mass defection to the All Progressive Congress in 2019, furthered that the State Executive Committee of the Party established in 2018 under Bolarinwa chairmanship was duly constituted by members of the Party, including the Governor.
Speaking further, he said, “When the State Executive was challenged by Alhaji Balogun Fulani, the erstwhile Chairman of the Party that later defected to PDP, he failed up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria which decision was given on the 19 of April 2019. That decision has put to rest the illegality claim on the composition.”
He added, “The APC is known for its progressive stands, we are not robot, no attempt to impose unknown quantities on the party in the State will stand, what the Governor have done is unacceptable to majority of the party executives and members, thereby we won’t sit down and watch us return to the Bukola Saraki dictatorship era which Kwara resoundingly said Otoge to.
“The Bolarinwa led exco has been duly recognized and affirmed by the Supreme Court which is the apex Court in land and all we demand is application of the same yardstick as applied in Oyo, Yobe, Sokoto, Oyo etc.
“If the party is strong and remains vibrant, it’ll remain a vehicle for today’s aspirations and that of tomorrow and thus we must protect the sanctity and integrity of the party.”
The Press Conference was witnessed by Prof. Abdulraheem Oba and several other party chieftains.
