* Dissident party members risk suspension, AbdulRazaq threatens
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Kwara State elders under the aegis of All Progressives Congress (APC) Integrity Group said to be loyal to Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the weekend said the ongoing crisis in the party in the state will not stop their members from participating in the party’s registration and revalidation exercise.
This is coming as the state Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, yesterday threatened that those fanning ember of disaffection in the state chapter of the party risk being suspended from the party.
The exercise is slated for tomorrow across the 36 states of the federation and Abuja.
A stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Senator John Danboyi’s membership registration committee last Wednesday was disrupted by violence that marred the exercise.
However, a fresh stakeholders’ meeting was held in Ilorin last Friday to intimate the stakeholders of the party on the registration and revalidation of membership of the APC in the state.
Addressing journalists in Ilorin, the state capital, the group’s spokesperson, Umar Shabba, said the group was out to prove that it enjoys majority support in the party among other tendencies.
He said: “What the governor’s team is out to achieve is to frustrate us. We’ll not be frustrated. But we’ll not allow dictatorship in the party. Someone cannot be dictating to us.”
He foreclosed any reconciliation with the governor, saying the governor was not in any position to call them for any meeting after failed attempts to reconcile their differences.
“Who would have attended a meeting with the governor? With what happened last Wednesday, it’s not safe. It would be unreasonable for us to sit down with the governor again for any meeting,” he stated.
Accusing the membership registration committee of bias and unfairness, the APC stalwart said the committee members “are unfit to do any meaningful party registration and revalidation in the state.
“We, therefore, reject the committee in its entirety. But we must put on record that Hon Bashir Bolarinwa did not arrive at the venue of the failed stakeholders’ meeting in company of thugs or cultists.”
Meanwhile, the state governor, AbdulRazaq, has threatened that those fanning the ember of disaffection in the state chapter of the party risk being suspended from the party.
He, however, disclosed that the party would today take decisive action on the dissidents, who he alleged have been hatching series of plots from Abuja to halt the APC membership registration through needless litigation.
The governor warned that the aggrieved group, which has been waging war against his administration, should either retrace their steps or quit the party, adding that APC would no longer tolerate their ‘pull him down’ attitude.
While thanking the Kwara Central legislator for his quality representation in the National Assembly, the governor assured him that his government would consolidate on the achievements made in line with the change mantra of the APC.
