Supporters of the national publicity secretary, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Muhammed, have threatened to pull out of ACN if he(Lai Muhammed) did not emerge as the party's flag bearer for the 2015 gubernatorial election in Kwara State.

The latest agitation is coming from Alhaji Mohammed Dele Belgore's home, Ilorin South Local Government, with supporters of both contenders enmeshed in crisis over who emerges for the race.

This was reportedly fuelled by a misconstrued song sang by Belgore at the recent reception, which the party organized for "decampees" from the rival PDP, which described the defection story as a ruse.

Belgore, a former ACN gubernatorial candidate in the state, was misconstrued to have indirectly attacked Lai Mohammed with the song.

Championing the campaign, it was reliably gathered, are Lai Mohammed's loyalists at Sabo-Oke area of Ilorin.

They were said to have accused an ACN chieftain, Alhaji Atanda Sooro (Ajia), of hobnobbing with the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He was also alleged to have got his private car from the PDP. But he dismissed the accusations, describing them as baseless.

"It is an open secret that Alhaji Atanda is an opposition member to the core. So, for somebody to now accuse him of anti-party activities is nothing but a misguided attempt. And they are doing all that because they know the man has sympathy for Dele Belgore. Nothing else!" said a dependable source.

Also, an ACN bigwig was reportedly hit by a sharp object at a birthday ceremony organized by a female chieftain of the party for her child at Sabo-Oke.

The object, allegedly thrown into the gathering from nowhere, was said to be masterminded by Belgore's supporters to disrupt the programme.

"The organizer gave an impression that the birthday party would be low-key and party chieftains would not be invited. But surprisingly, the birthday turned out to be a big event dominated by supporters of Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

"That was why the supporters of Alhaji Dele Belgore were fingered as principal suspects in the incident," the source added.

The development, National Pilot further gathered, later snowballed into war of words and fierce antagonism from both groups.

To this end, Belgore's camp reportedly held a meeting over the weekend to re-strategize ahead of the gubernatorial poll, while Lai's group was said to have insisted: "It is either Lai Mohammed or nobody."

Culled from National Pilot Newspaper