Kwara APC crisis: Lai, Saraki paperweights, with no electoral value — Gov Abdulrazak’s men

By OMEIZA AJAYI

Loyalists of the Kwara State governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak have berated the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Minister of State, Transportation, Sen. Gbemi Saraki for sponsoring some “failed governorship aspirants” against the governor, describing the duo as paperweight politicians who have no electoral value.

The group led by Chairman of the Kwara APC Elders Forum, Barr. Kunle Suleiman, Nigeria’s immediate-past ambassador to Malaysia, Amb. Nurudeen Muhammed and Sen. Suleiman Makanjuola Ajadi made its position known while addressing journalists on Thursday at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.

Referring to Mohammed and Saraki, Barr. Suleiman said; “Those ministers and Association of Failed Governorship Aspirants can come to Abuja to say nonsense but they are just paperweight politicians. They have no influence at the grassroots. Even a professor, like Oba Abdulrasheed who prides himself as a former university vice-chancellor, would still have to come to the grassroots to learn”.

Ajadi on his part said the two ministers are presidential appointees who lack the capability to win elections. “Ministers are not elected officials. President Muhammadu Buhari picked them not based on their capability to win elections. If you check the pedigree of the two ministers you will understand what I am saying that they do not have the capacity to win elections”, he stated.

Other members of the delegation were Gen. Tunde Bello (retd), Sen. Muhammed Ahmed, Chief JB Ayeni (Chairman APC Elders Forum in Kwara South), Alhaji Alabi Ilyasu, Chief Wole Oke, Hon. Ayinla Folorunsho, Alhaji Abubakar Ndakene, Hon. Mumuni Katugi, Gen. Ibrahim Bola Kale Agbabiaka and Alhaji Hameed Adio.

According to the elders, the Abdulrazak administration “is ending the helicopter money politics that had plagued Kwara’s past”, adding that within the past 18 months, the administration has fixed over 100 rural and urban roads, culverts and bridges. The elders also threw their weight behind the decision of the national leadership of the party to appoint Alhaji Abdullahi Samari as the Acting state Chairman of the party.

“This indeed is a lifesaving decision for the party that had been in the vice grip of power drunk and self-conceited individuals whose only loyalists are garrulous and selfish few whose only anger with the Governor is that he did not make himself a yes-man or stooge through whom the public vault is thrown open”, they stated.

They accused the former chairman, Bashir Bolarinwa of launching a campaign of calumny against the governor. “It is on record that these gangs dedicated a weekly programme to denigrate the Governor, his administration, and the House of Assembly. They never missed an opportunity to denigrate the office of the Governor. Certainly, no system, much less an organised political party, can survive the level of indiscipline, arrogance and unbridled ambitions of these lousy few. The intervention of the national headquarters of the party is therefore timely and necessary to save the party from these oppressive, self-centred gang.

“Contrary to their claims, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa was rightly removed as chairman of the party for his many anti-party conducts which include but are not limited to:

“Open condemnation and denigration of the achievements of the APC government for his own selfish objectives.

“Using the radio and social media platforms to launch attacks on the person of the Governor and members of the State Assembly without any provocation.

“There is no love lost between him and majority of the state executive council members who he never consulted; His refusal to accept the leadership status of the Governor and his utter disrespect for the office of Governor in his language and conduct.

“It has become a norm for Hon. Bolarinwa and his co-travellers to organise thugs and miscreants to disrupt programmes.

“The actions, utterances and general behaviour of these few party chieftains against the governor and his administration are motivated by superciliousness, personal aggrandisement and their desire to ensure the failure of the Governor and his administration”, they stated.

The forum added that Hon. Bolarinwa ran a divisive state executive council and never missed an opportunity to oppose the government elected on the platform of the party he purported to lead. “He became the major opposition to the government elected on the platform of his own party without any just cause.

“Against these backdrops, we fully support the decision of the party to remove Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa as his continuous leadership of the party was a disaster waiting to happen. We align ourselves with his replacement with a rather cool-headed, committed and mature party chieftain Alhaji Abdullahi Samari who we are sure can better unify the party”. (Vanguard)