By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The division in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara State once again reared its ugly head when the two factions in the state held different stakeholders’ meetings to mark two years of the party’s government in the state.
While the factional party chieftains loyal to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq held their meeting at the Government House Banquet Hall, the other faction held their own at the open field of the Niger River Basin Authority.
Recall that there had been a thick line of divide between Governor AbdulRahman and his loyalists on the one side and the Chairman of the APC in the state, Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa, now Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the party on the other hand, which still lingers on.
The Governor AbdulRazaq faction had on it’s own, put up parallel officers of the party, headed by Alhaji Abdullahi Samari, and the two factions carried the division to their separate stakeholders’ meeting in Ilorin.
At the meeting attended by Governor Abdulrazaq, his followers gave him a pass mark in his two years of administration, listing his achievements to include: impressive infrastructural projects.
The meeting unanimously agreed
that the governor had not only done creditably well in two years, but he had also justified the need to effect a change in the past political pattern of the state, where acts of impunity used to dominate governance.
Also, the APC faction loyal to the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Hon. Bolarinwa, at its stakeholders’ meeting, attended by notable party stalwarts and representatives of Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Senator Gbemisola Saraki, the two serving ministers from the state, condemned the recently concluded registration/revalidation exercise of the APC in the state.
It said that the exercise was against the laid down guidelines in the party.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Danladi-Salihu, who was among speakers at the meeting of the fa toon loyal to the governor said, “Kwara has never had it so good” in terms of infrastructure development and workers’ welfare.
Other speakers included: the Head of Service, HoS, Mrs. Susan Oluwole, representatives of People Living With Disabilities, PWLD, Bashiru Yusuf, the victims of #EndSARS protest, and Iyaloja of Ipata market, Balikis AbdulRasheed, among others.
Also, three commissioners; Femi White, Water Resources; Rotimi Iliasu, Works; and Dr. Abubakar Ayinla, Health, also listed the achievements of the governor’s administration.
Danladi-Salihu added, “We, at the Kwara State House of Assembly are satisfied that Governor Abdulrazaq has done wonderfully well in the last two years.
“Whoever is saying no to Governor Abdulrazaq is saying no to the progress and development of the state. What the governor needs is our prayers. He has changed the narrative of Kwara politics and governance. This administration is for all Kwarans. We are solidly behind the governor.”
In his address at the occasion, the governor said his administration has turned the state around from its ‘sorry’ past in the last two years through prudent management of resources.
Castigating past administrations for putting the state in backward gear, Abdulrazaq said, “We have our records. At the right time we shall expose them. They were getting the same money that we are getting, but they squandered everything. We shall continue to do the right thing for our people.”
At the other factional meeting, Hon. Bolarinwa, the factional chairman insisited that he remained the legally and authentic chairman of the party in the state, adding that party members allegedly shut out of the registration/revalidation exercise some months ago should be duly registered and revalidated.
He also asked that the registration/revalidation of those members be done before the commencement of the various congresses of the party, saying that the party congresses at all levels should be conducted in a transparent manner.
Bolarinwa maintained that party members in his group were committed and loyal APC members, saying, “We all remain resolute, strong and steadfast in moving our party, the APC forward.”
