By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Chaos and party apathy has continued to rise in the present administration of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kwara state, under Gov Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak.
NatureNews reports that in the 2019 general elections, Kwara state recorded the highest number of APC victories in political positions.
This was as a result of a campaign ‘’o to ge’’ launched to drive away the dictates and political influence of the Peoples Democratic Party.
However, the removal of the Kwara APC chairman, Hon Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa on Wednesday, has attracted mixed reactions from some party chieftains.
Some stakeholders of APC in a statement entitled ‘’The Road to the Destruction of the All Progressive Congress in Kwara State’’ rejected the removal of Bolarinwa as state chairman.
The statement reads, ‘’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 HE, Mai Mala Buni.
‘’We shall prove to those that aborted the people’s revolution foisting on our party the present situation since 2018 that Kwara is not an appendage of any outside power conspiracy.’’
The stakeholders noted that the news of the Bolarinwa’s removal was disclosed to them by the Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee of the APC, Senator John Akpanudoedehe on January 12.
‘’It was the Secretary that told us that APC has dethroned our Chairman, Hon Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa on the 11 of January 2021, by giving a letter of appointment to his Deputy, Hon Samari Abdullahi.
‘’It should be recalled that Hon Bashir Bolarinwa became the Chairman of APC October, 2018 and he led the oarty to 100 percent victory in the 2019 general elections. He along with other State Chairmen of APC in Nigeria was sworn-in as the Kwara State,’’ the statement added.
The stakeholders said that the Secretary of the National Caretaker Committee told them that the Chairman was removed as a result of the complaint of the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak as he claimed that he could not work with the former chairman.
‘’The complaint was sustained and made a subject of removal as a result of a connivance between the Governor of Kwara State and his Niger State counterpart and friend, Sanni Bello.
‘’The content of the complaints was not made available, neither to the critical stakeholders of the party in Kwara State nor to the Chairman, Hon Bolarinwa.
‘’The decision of the Caretaker Committee was said to be based on the recommendations of the North Central Zone of the Party, under the Chairmanship of HE Sanni Bello.
“Governor Sanni Bello was said to have recommended that the authentic Chairman of the Party should be removed and be made a Commissioner in the cabinet of Kwara State.
‘’He also recommended that Abdullai Sanmari, the crony of the Governor of Kwara State and the leader of Abdulrahman splinter group within Kwara APC, be made the Caretaker Chairman.
‘’The only reason adduced by Niger State Governor, Sanni Bello’s Committee for the purported removal of our state Chairman is the inability of the Governor to work with the Chairman who in fact cleared the way for him when it was even obvious that he did not win the primary election to qualify him as the gubernatorial candidate of the Party in 2018.
‘’A person that the governor cannot work with is now recommended by Governor Bello…