Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Immediate Past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Kwara State, Mr. Salman Jawondo (SAN), has said that about eleven cases are now in court over the just concluded primaries of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state due to the purported imposition of candidates.
Jawondo, who is a chieftain of APC, stated this in Ilorin yesterday when he received the team of the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Progressives from Ilorin South Local Government Area of the state in his office in Ilorin.
The team that was led by Hon. A. Taiye was in audience with the legal luminary to help them take over the case of Hon. A. Shina, who won the Ilorin South House of Assembly ticket of the party but was replaced with one Hon. Aladi.
Jawondo said that he would work against the impunity that characterised the just concluded APC’s primaries in the state.
He said: “The imposition that you’re kicking against in Ilorin South also happened in my own local government (Asa), where complete strangers were imposed on party faithful.”
Jawondo also described the former Senate Leader, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, as a better politician than Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
He however said that “the imposition that the Saraki dynasty was known for was often with semblance of human face, unlike the flagrant disregard for party members in the imposition of candidates by the Governor AbdulRazaq’s led APC in the state.
“When democracy returned after prolonged military rule, Dr. Abubakar Saraki had interest in Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe as against the more popular candidate Barr. A. A. Ibrahim.
“Even at that Dr. Saraki begged the aggrieved aspirant and his supporters.”
Jawondo stressed that “he (Dr. Olusola Saraki) picked Dr. Oloriegbe to repay the numerous good deeds of his father and that was how Oloriegbe was embraced 100 per cent as the anointed candidate.
“Now, what the present leadership is doing is a total disregard for all others, they’ve called the bluff of others without creating avenue to appease them and that’s only a recipe for crisis.
“Nobody can force us to accept impositions. Kwarans would never ever vote blankly like we did in 2019. Kwarans are wiser now.
“We did Otoge not because of a single individual. My only disagreement with the Sarakis is purely governance issues. Therefore, we won’t abandon the ship we built, yet we would refuse to keep quiet when our Otoge brothers are going against the principles of Otoge.
“Kwara must be wary of creating another Saraki, the party’s constitution expressly states that House of Assembly primaries should be conducted via direct primaries, yet we did indirect, that’s enough ground to approach the court and ensure the party doesn’t have any Assembly candidate, but that will be tantamount to joining them to spoil the Otoge struggle.
“I have vowed to work for the success of our party, however, I’ll do everything within my powers to ensure the House of Assembly candidate they imposed, who just joined the party in May and also just enrolled to be a voter same month she got the ticket, I’ll work against such impunity with everything within my powers.
“We have no fewer than 11 cases in court, which are direct fallout of our so-called primaries. Ironically, Bukola Saraki led PDP don’t have a single case in court.
“That said, I enjoin us all to remain in the party, work for the party, but refused to be cowed towards accepting betrayals and cheaters to benefit from their acts.”
