By Hammed Shittu
The simmering crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State at the weekend got messier as the party leadership in the state accused the state Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, of allegedly fueling the crisis in the party in the state.
The party had been enmeshed in crisis since the inauguration of the new administration on May 29, 2019.
The crisis, it was gathered, had caused disaffection between the governor and the leadership of the party led by Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa. The party leadership has not been involved in the day-to-day governance of the state since the inauguration of the new administration.
The development, however, led some members of the party led by the state Deputy Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari, last week Thursday to hold a parley at the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), where they exonerated the governor from the crisis rocking the party.
However, a statement issued in Ilorin yesterday, which was signed by the Financial Secretary and Treasurer of the party on behalf of the APC in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Tajudeen and Alhaji Dantala Yaro respectively, and made available to journalists, said: “Some members of the party who recently attended a parley with the state government on behalf of the leadership of the party did not have the consent of the party to do so.”
The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to a parley held among the state governor, represented by the SSG, members of the state house of assembly and a group of people purported to be the leadership of the APC in state.
“For any avoidance of doubt, we affirmed unequivocally from the state Chairman of the party, Bolarinwa, in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution, the deputy chairman can only represent the chairman at any official function at the behest of the chairman.
“The claim that the leadership of the party attended the said parley is spurious and unfounded as the group of people who supposedly attended the occasion did not represent the leadership of the party and did not have the instruction of the chairman to do so.
‘’The continued hobnobbing with this group of people by the state governor and his appointees to the neglect of the state chairman has given a clear indication that not only is the governor behind the crisis in the party, he is the one fuelling it.”
The two signatories to the statement said: “We, the treasurer and financial secretary of the party, are the custodians of the party account, and therefore, know the true position of the account,” stressing that “any accusation of financial wrongdoing against the state chairman is merely a figment of their imagination. The state chairman is of an impeccable character.’’
The statement also accused members of the executives, who have disagreement with the state chairman, that they never raised their grievances at any of their executive meetings before they absconded.
“Their claim that the crisis is internal is untrue to the extent that they are the protagonists who are internally motivated from the day they gave themselves up for the divisive politics and manipulation of the governor at a price.
“The intention of the group is very clear, they decided to pitch their tent where their bread will be best buttered .In the process, they are destroying the house they helped to build without any qualms or any thought of the place of posterity as the best judge of all our actions,” it stated.
