Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress(APC) in Kwara State and the Originator of “O To Ge” movement, Mr. L .A .K Jimoh, at the weekend said that, he has no regret for being the exponent of the struggle despite the current protracted crisis that had rocked the ruling APC in the state.
He, however, blamed the national leadership of the party led by the Governor of Yobe State, Mr. Mai Bala Buni, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and the APC’s National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu for their alleged failure to save the state chapter of the APC from the protracted crisis, which has tore the party apart.
Speaking with journalists on the state of the nation in Ilorin, Jimoh described the crisis in the party as unnecessary distraction to governance and avoidable.
The elder statesman traced the initial efforts to find lasting solutions to the crisis to 2018 when a team was raised to visit Tinubu in Lagos and Professor Osinbajo in Abuja, said that, all the peace move were proved abortive.
Asked why he had been silent since the crisis started, Jimoh said he decided to offer advice and suggestions from behind the scene as an elder statesman in the midst of young politicians in the political space.
Jimoh noted that he is a fulfilled Kwaran because the people through the Otoge’ mantra, are now conscious that no one can take Kwara for a ride anymore.
He stated that “we have sensitised them to the extent that if, you take them for granted, you will regret it.
“That is enough, even if that is the only thing we have achieved. You can no longer put a rope round the neck of Kwarans and begin to drag them and they will follow you, we have passed that stage.
He pointed out that “the victory of ‘O To Ge’ is a lesson to all sides and a blessing to all sides. One, to those of us who championed the cause, it is a lesson to us that nothing is impossible, if, the will is there and the wherewithal is also there, you can achieve anything.”
He warned those in power presently not to commit the blunders of the previous leadership as the same fate awaits them through the ballot box because “ultimate power resides with the people and not in the money we spend or in us.”
He also condemned in strong terms the deceit behind the fake number of registered and revalidated members of APC in the state put at 500,000, arguing that even the total votes cast of APC and PDP in the last gubernatorial election in the state was less than 500,000 votes.
