Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress(APC) in Kwara state and a member of the State House of Assembly, representing Ojomu/Balogun constituency of Offa in Offa Local Government Council Area of the state, Hon. Saheed Popoola at the weekend raised the alarm that the continued hijacking of APC by Governors of the party may put the party on a part of sliding.
Popoola, who spoke to journalists in Ilorin on the state of the nation on the sideline of the
Correspondents Chapel of the Kwara NUJ programme tagged: “News Keg” lamented that the various unending crisis rocking the party in the country was allegedly manifested by the governors and may have a serious effects on the APC electoral victory in the next elections in the country.
He said: “I am the first person to contest under APC in the whole of Nigeria, immediately the party was formed in 2013, I had my election as chairman of Offa Local Government Council, just one month after. So I have every right to talk about APC, because the way the party is going most importantly at the national level, it is not speaking well of progressives.
“You can see court ruling on the governorship election held in Anambra, and I said it when they were concocting figures that Andy Uba won primary election. I know of my friend George Moghalu that contested the primary and he did not even see materials for that election and you were declaring somebody a winner of election that never took place in real sense.
“The court now said APC did not participate in Anambra election. This is the work of our almighty governors. I think they have hijacked the party and they have put the party on a part of sliding. Only God can save APC at the moment.
“They(APC governors) have hijacked and destroyed the party, they cannot even fix a date for convention. Look at how PDP is getting their activities right, maybe it is because they have suffered a lot of setbacks and their sense is very straight now, they are doing everything correctly”
He addedL “Back to Kwara state, let me tell you, Kwarans will further teach Nigerians, a better ways to vote in 2023, they did in Otoge, and people now know that Kwara is not a dullard state. ‘
“That is how outsiders refer to us in the past. This time around they will know better, by the time they see different party emerging at different level of elective positions, we are better informed and politically conscious.
“I always say one thing, I am not a trouble maker. I also want to be a friend of Governor, but when things are not right, one have to be courageous and make a level of redirection by saying it out.
“We will not be living forever. But history will surely remember us, where is Baba Awolowo, MKO Abiola, today? What we are talking about them now is history, It’s important to live for something in life. I want to be remembered as somebody who believes in righteousness”.
He added: “It’s obvious that we have a lot of divides in Kwara APC, we are in two factions, and I will keep saying it that the basis of divide is leader of the party ‘Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’ who supposed to be a unifying factor. But unfortunately he is the divider of the party, this, I said in many fora and I can say it anywhere.”
“We started the O To Ge(enouugh is enough) struggle with a lot of efforts all of us did it together with one mind, but at the end of the day, immediately we came on board, what we heard from the Governor was that Alhaji Lai Mohammed did not work for me. I want to remove Hon Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa (BOB) as party chairman, Saheed Popoola must not be speaker, something that all of us did together in unison, but at the end of the day, this is what resulted to ‘APC Loyal’ that are led by our chairman Hon. BOB”
Popoola noted further that, “Who knows the crisis that Governor started might even be intentional, in order for him to be on top of all affairs, because when you are together with somebody like Lai Mohammed, BOB, Professor Shuaib Oba AbdulRaheem, Akogun Oyedepo and others with sharp intellect, when you are in meeting with them, you would know that you are talking to intellectuals and you cannot just tell them anything, they won’t take it. So, he decided to cause crisis, in order for him to dodge us through that way.
“Unfortunately, the national leadership of our party did not do well in this crisis and I keep saying it that our crisis is likely to be the beginning of the end of APC in Kwara State because even the National that supposed to be arbiter in this case have taken side because they said party belongs to the Governors.
“But, they should remember that they took side in Adamawa and Bauchi and they lost. If it remains like that in this state, it is likely that the same history will repeat itself.”
