Kwara: Gov Shuts Out Ministers, As Battle For APC Intensifies

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Laid Mohammed and Gbemisola Saraki could not have imagined that they will be jilted by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq who they helped to power last year. The unexpected has now happened as the man who rode on their support to become governor has thrown them out of the bus.

Keen watchers said,  it would have been impossible for Governor Abdulrazaq to defeat his opponent in the election, if not for the help of Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Saraki, the Minister of state who worked against his brother Bukola Saraki, former Senate President’s interest.

The ministers are now counting their loss after Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who rose on their crest to power turned against them. Since he came to power last year, the governor’s relationship with his former political allies have gone cold after they clashed on the control of the soul of APC in the Harmony state. as Kwara is widely known. But the recent removal, from office, of APC chairman and his replacement with Alhaji Abdullahi Samari an ally of the states’ helmsman has further worsens the crisis of confidence among the APC stalwarts.

What happened? Governor Abdulrazaq and his allies in the party accused the former chairman of working against his government, aside involvement in anti-party activity. The state government said the former APC chair was working with some enemies of the state to destroy the government, an obvious veiled reference to Mohammed and Saraki who have publicly criticised the administrative style of the governor. They also accused him of disrespecting Governor Abdulrazaq.

Taking a swipe at the ministers recently, some chieftains of the party in the state described the duo as paper weight politicians without followers.  The governor’s loyalist said the ministers are supporting “failed governorship aspirants” against the governor, who they said have turned the state aroung within one year in office.

Led by Chairman of the Kwara APC Elders Forum, Kunle Suleiman, Nigeria’s immediate-past ambassador to Malaysia, Amb, Nurudeen Muhammed and Senator Suleiman Makanjuola Ajadi, the APC leaders told journalists at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, that the minister have no electoral value.

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.

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.

The elders further stated that Governor Abdulrahman “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. They 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, which obviously did not go down well with the Abuja group led by Mohammed and Saraki.

The APC Caretaker Committee led by Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni. state had dissolved the state APC chapter and appointed a new exco led by Samari.

Addressing journalists earlier in the week, in Abuja after meeting with the National Secretary of the party, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, Iyiola Oyedepo, the leader of the Mohammed/ Saraki group said he was disappointed with the decision of the party, warning that the APC could lose the election in 2023.

Oyedepo said“We have resolved to reject the verdict of the National Caretaker Committee on the purported removal of Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa. It is worth nothing more than the value of the paper on which the letter given to Hon Sanmari Abdulahi is written. It certainly shall not work in Kwara State no matter who is behind it.

Though when we told the Secretary that the decision could sink the party in the state, he said they really do not care. And he repeated during the conversation more than five times that he was acting under the instructions of the Chairman, Mai Mala Buni.

“We shall prove to those that aborted the peoples’ revolution foisting on our party the present situation since 2018 that Kwara is not an appendage of any outside power conspiracy. They continue to compromise our noble cause with these unacceptable decisions and we shall henceforth prove to those that are not popular at home but rather rely on political manipulations from outside that, the game is up,” Oyedepo added.

Watchers of politics in the state said the tug of war among APC stalwarts could affect their chances of retaining the state in the next general election. Citing the recent tumulus return of former Senate President, Saraki to the state, the school of thought said the crack in the ruling party is what the PDP needed to return to power in the state.

Apart from this, critics of the ruling party insist that some aggrieved members in the APC could form alliance with other party to ensure that Governor Abdulrazaq did not return to power in two years time.” The way things are going, you cannot rule out the realignment of forces in both APC and PDP. There is too much bad blood among members of the ruling party in the state which have opened their flanks to the opposition. The bickering has energized the PDP to re-launch itself back to the state, after the disgrace outing it experienced last year,” Kamoru Oba, a political analyst in the state said.

Meanwhile, sources in the APC said the party is on top of the crisis and will do everything to bring the aggrieved party members together. A source said “Governor Abdulrazaq need all these people to return to power. The party will bring all feuding members together before the next election.”