The crisis rocking the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), recently came to a head following the ratification of the suspension of eleven (11) members believed to be loyalists of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, by the caretaker committee of the party. The “sin” of the suspended members is, daring to take the party and the state chairman, Hon. Abdullahi Samari Abubakar, to court.
Approval of the suspension was contained in a letter by the National Secretary, Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Senator James Akpanudoedehe, to Abubakar.
The letter read in part that: “The Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee considered the decision of the Kwara State Caretaker Committee dated 5 February 2021, on the resolution of the Kwara State Disciplinary Committee to suspend erring members who instituted Suit No: CV/241/2021 between Joseph Tsado and 10 Ors VS All Progressives Congress & 2 Ors, against the party.
“After due consideration of the decision, the members of the Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee found the decision meritorious because the members who instituted the above-mentioned suit against the party had flouted the directive of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of 25th June 2020, wherein the NEC resolved that no member of the party should institute any action in court, and to withdraw all pending cases in court in order to explore internal conflict resolution mechanisms of the party.
“Consequently, the Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee ratifies the decision of the Kwara State Caretaker Committee and upholds suspension of the following Party members: Joseph Tsado, Bamidele Ogunbayo, Issa Fulani, Imam Abdulkadir, Morufu Olaniyi Yusuf, Saludeen Lukman, Kerebu Fatai, Bola Ajani, Nurudeen Fasasi, Salman Shehu Babatunde and Abdullateef Ahmed Kolawole.
“Take notice; that this suspension constitutes a bar on the above-named persons from participating in the ongoing registration and revalidation of membership exercise.”
The eleven (11) members had kicked against the removal of erstwhile state Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Bolarinwa, a development that polarised the party into two factions with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Lai Mohammed, jostling for the control of the party.
They had approached the court to demand the removal of Samari, a clear contravention of the 25th June 2020 directive of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, which forbids members from instituting any action in court.
Since the inauguration of the APC government in Kwara State over two years ago, the party has been enmeshed in wrangling and war of attrition with the crisis dating back to the period before the 2019 general elections.
The transformation that took place within the party before the election was a matter of necessity as it was an amalgamation of politicians disenchanted with the political hegemony of the Saraki dynasty. The party gained instant acceptability amongst the elites and the youths. In fact, but for the determination of the youths and the resolve to demystify the Saraki dynasty under the famous “Otogee” movement, the party, APC, would have been roundly defeated at the polls.
Rather than savour this pyrrhic victory, the battle for supremacy soon emerged between Governor AbdulRazaq and other stakeholders that include Alhaji Mohammed, Minister of State for Transport, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, and Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo.
Stakeholders constantly accused Prince Fagbemi’s group of having the eyes and ears of the governor while the governor’s camp equally pointedly accused the other camps, specifically the Lai Mohammed group, of wanting to remote-control the governor.
As this cold war rages, both camps pretended as though all was well in the party even as keen watchers knew that it was a question of time before the bubble would burst. December 2020 was the deadline for every state chapter to pick its caretaker committee members ahead of the party’s national convention earlier slated for June 2021 but which has been rescheduled for September 2021.
The crisis promptly degenerated from bad to worse days to the commencement of the party membership revalidation and registration exercise. The governor had written a petition intimating the National Working Committee of his discomfort with the idea of Bolarinwa continuing to oversee the exercise as the Caretaker Chairman. He opted for Bolarinwa’s deputy, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari. This was quite understandable as Samari and some other members of the Bolarinwa’s executives have pitched their tent with the governor since the crisis began.
As the caretaker chairmanship crisis raged on, the national headquarters referred the matter to the zonal headquarters and Governor AbdulRazaq’s candidate was endorsed by Niger State Governor, Sanni Bello.
To further put a seal on this, materials and logistics for the registration exercise were handed over to Samari and the seven-man membership registration and revalidation committee, led by Senator John Danboyi, was received at the Government House.
Sensing that there was a problem at hand, and to calm frayed nerves, the Danboyi Committee convened a stakeholders meeting. But the meeting was aborted midway owing to mayhem and exchange of fisticuffs. In the process, no fewer than five members of Bolarinwa’s camp, including some executive members, sustained injuries. As a result of this sordid development, two groups, under the aegis of APC Integrity Group and APC Concerned Youth Stakeholders, called for the disbandment of the Danboyi-led committee.
The groups maintained that the crisis and attacks on members of other camps other than the governor’s camp are aimed at brow-beating and forcing them out of the party. They insisted they were not ready to leave the party.
The Integrity Group, composed predominantly of elders and leaders of the party, is of the view that the extant crisis will not dissuade its members from participating in the registration and revalidation exercise.
The group’s spokesperson, Umar Shabbat, said the group was out to prove that it enjoys majority support in the party among other stakeholders. “What the governor’s team is out to achieve is to frustrate us. We will not be frustrated. But, we will not allow a dictatorship in the party. Someone cannot be dictating to us.”
Despite the disagreement, the governor kicked off the membership registration and revalidation exercise at his Idi- Igba Ward, Ilorin West Local Government Area, emphasising the need to expand the base of the party in the state with the exercise.
Alhaji Muhammed, on his part, insists that there wouldn’t be Congress in Kwara State without the registration of the members who have not been able to do so. He stated that he, Prof Shuaib Oba, and Alhaji Tajudeen Audu had met with the National Caretaker Chairman of the party on the issue and that he assured them that Kwara State is a special state and there would be no congress until all members of the party in the state have been registered.
The Minister who spoke while commissioning the APC new secretariat of the Bashir Bolarinwa led faction in Ilorin, Kwara State capital noted that they were warned not to support the Governor of the state, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq during the 2019 governorship election in the state.
According to him, “It has gotten to the point where we have to speak out. We have been pushed to the wall and we have no choice but to come out and expose their lies and pretensions.”
“It was immediately after the Governor emerged as the party’s candidate for the election that it dawned on us that we had entered “one chance”.
“But despite all the warnings from concerned party leaders and others who had reservations about his choice, our reaction then was that no matter what, his choice was better than where we were coming from. But we were wrong.”
The faction loyal to the governor, the APC Elders Caucus, has called for immediate suspension of the Minister for allegedly factionalizing the party. The group said that the Minister “is no longer fit to represent the interest of the people of Kwara State” and should be removed from the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Some chieftains of the party loyal to the Minister wouldn’t have any of such, even as they threatened to suspend Governor Abdulrazaq over alleged anti-party activities.
Oladimeji Mustapha, the spokesperson of the group loyal to the Minister and also the factional legal adviser of the Kwara APC Caretaker Committee, said, the party might have no option other than to apply the provisions of Article 21 of the APC Constitution on him.
Some of the members of the Elders Caucus at a news briefing held in Ilorin include Elder Wole Oke, Kunle Sulaiman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, Alhaji Abdulmumeen Katibi, Chief Titus Ashaolu (SAN) Senators Simeon Ajibola, and Mohammed Ahmed.
The group loyal to the governor immediately fired back pointing out that the “action of Alhaji Mohammed has clearly shown to everyone that the intra-party crisis that has bedevilled the party in Kwara State was not precipitated by the erstwhile chairman, Alhaji Bashir Bolarinwa”.
According to the group, “Bolarinwa is just a tool in the hands of the Minister to destroy the party in the state. The question to be asked is whether the new secretariat unveiled by Alhaji 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 the “Third Force” and burnt brooms (the symbol of APC) that were seen gathered at Alhaji Mohammed’s so-called APC secretariat.
“The estranged relationship between him and the governor, who by the party’s constitution is the leader of the party in Kwara State, is most uncalled for. His continuing encouragement and support for factionalisation of the party are not only divisive but also destructive to the party. It is anti-party. He cannot contest the leadership of the party with the governor”, the group stated.
But observers of events believed that the crisis has implications for the party ahead of the 2023 general elections as it may face a perilous future if the crisis continues unabated.
Speaking with Rulers’ World on the threat by some APC chieftains loyal to Alhaji Lai Mohammed to suspend the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari, asked whether those people were APC members, stressing that he does not think that there would be any APC member whose loyalty would be for an individual rather than the party.
According to him, “I don’t know what you people mean by loyal to the Minister. Are they APC members? If yes, and their loyalty is to the Minister and not the party? I don’t think there should be any APC member whose loyalty should be for an individual but rather than the party. It is the party that is a thing and as far as the party is concerned in Kwara State and constitutionally, the leader of the party is the Governor of the State. That is what the constitution of the APC says, So if some people are now saying that they are loyal to any other person other than the leader of the party, then they are talking of something else and I doubt if those people are actually APC members.”
On the parallel state secretariat office of the party recently commissioned by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Samari described the action as unfortunate and the highest anti-party activities coming from a supposed elder of the party in the state. He said: If it is true that the man really came and commissioned a secretariat, a serving Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where APC is the ruling party, ” I think that is the highest anti-party activity coming from a supposed leader and elder of the party in the state.”
Samari, however, debunked the insinuation that the crisis that has polarized the party into two factions might affect its chances in the 2023 elections, stating that the party is more hopeful than before to win again in 2023.
He said, “Yes and no! Yes in the sense that for those who are looking at it from that angle who may think it will affect the chances of the party in the 2023 election, no it cannot because you have to understand that more and more people are flooding into APC on a daily basis. I’m not saying anybody is not relevant in the party because politics is a game of numbers, we are looking at the situation where at least they will see the reason for us to be able to reconcile ourselves and bury our differences and go back to work together as a team.”
“But if somebody feels well I’m looking for where I can better pursue my ambition you cannot stop such people from exercising their fundamental human right but I’m telling you sincerely the party, APC is waxing stronger on a daily basis because more and more people are coming in. So it may not in any way affects the party’s chances in 2023. We are more hopeful than ever before. 2023 will come and be a successful year for us again in Kwara State APC”, Samari expressed optimism.
On efforts been made to resolve the crisis and foster unity among the two factions, Samari described the crisis as a family affair that is being looked into and will be resolved amicably. “The party will address those who have signaled that they are not comfortable and are not happy with happenings in the party. We’ve been making approaches to them to explain what they did and they have their own side of the story and I think the party tries to let them know that such grievances will be looked into so that there will be peace in the party for us to move together as a family.”
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