The battle for the soul of Kwara All Progressives Congress (APC) is getting interesting as the days go by. Factions in the state have continued to throw jibes at one another.
Already the party in the state is divided between Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed.
A faction under the aegis of APC Elders Caucus called for immediate suspension of the Minister from the party for alleged fractionalisation of the party.
The elders caucus, a group loyal to the Governor, Thursday demanded for Mohammed’s removal from the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The group said the Minister “ is no longer fit to represent the interest of the people of Kwara state”.
The group loyal to the Minister would however not accept that as they threatened to suspend Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for alleged anti-party activities.
Spokesperson of the group, who is also the factional Legal Adviser of the party’s caretaker committee, Oladimeji Mustapha advised Governor Abdulrazaq to desist from alleged anti party activities.
He added the party might have no option than to apply the provisions of Article 21 of the APC Constitution on him.
Some leaders of the Elders Caucus at the briefing include Elder Wole Oke, Kunle Sulaiman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, Alhaji Abdulmumeen Katibi, Chief Titus Ashaolu (SAN), Senators Simeon Ajibola and Mohammed Ahmed
They alleged the “action of Alhaji Lai Mohammed has clearly shown to everyone the intra party crisis that has bedevilled our party in Kwara state was not precipitated by the erstwhile chairman of the party, Alhaji Bashir Bolarinwa.
“Bolarinwa was just a tool in the hands of Alhaji Lai to destroy the APC in Kwara state.
“The question to be asked is whether the new secretariat unveiled by Alhaji Lai Mohammed is for their new party called the Third Force or for the APC.
“This is because it was the same set of people who declared that they have defected to Third Force and burnt brooms were the same set of people who gathered at Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s so called on APC secretariat.
“The estranged relationship between him and the Governor, who by the party’s constitution , is the leader of the party in the state, is most uncalled for.
“His continuing encouragement and support for factionalisation of the party is divisive and disruptive to the party.
“It is anti-party. He cannot contest the leadership of the party with the Governor.”
The Minister group claimed the Governor “factionalised the party by floating a group called AA; he tricked the party state executives after several failed attempts to a parley at Kwara hotel which was masterminded by him to remove the state chairman, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa.”
