Date: 2020-12-11

Two serving ministers from Kwara State; Lai Mohammed and Gbemisola Saraki and other stakeholders in All Progressives Congress (APC) have moved against Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq's efforts to stop Hon Bashir Bolarinwa from being recognised as the Chairman of the state caretaker committee, describing the actions as illegal, illogical and unacceptable.

Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, a Chieftain of the party addressed the press conference evening in Ilorin flanked by the representatives of Minister of State for Transportation Senator Gbemisola Saraki, the state legal adviser of the party, Barrister Oladimeji Mustapha, that of Alhaji Lai Mohammed Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Ayo Obisesan.

Among the factions in the fractured APC, only the representative of Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq was absent at the press conference.

Akogun Oyedepo at the time of press conference expressed concern that Governor AbdulRazaq had not invited Hon Bashir Bolarinwa for the swearing-in ceremony that will take place in Abuja tomorrow, Tuesday.

He said: "The information at our disposal is that Governor AbdulRazaq has gone to the national headquarters of the party to urge the national caretaker committee to exempt Bolarinwa from the swearing-in ceremony on the ground that Kwara executive of 2018 was not a product of a congress.

"The weather-beaten claim of this group is that the Kwara State executive under Bolarinwa is a product of a Congress. Nothing is farther from the truth."

Oyedepo who said members of other groups in the party were not carried along by the governor in his current decision despite the ongoing peace parley among them said: "The state executive committee of the party established in 2018 under Bolarinwa chairmanship was duly constituted by members of the party including the governor.

"And when that executive was challenged by Alhaji Balogun Fulani, the erstwhile chairman of the party that later defected to PDP, he failed up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria which decision was given on 19th April 2019.

That decision has put to rest the illegality claim on the composition of the state executive committee of the party in Kwara State.

"Based on the said Supreme Court decision, it will be illegal, illogical and certainly unacceptable to the base exclusion of Kwara State on the national policy of the party now.

He noted that "the efficiency of our structure and high tolerance of party members accounted for APC 100 per cent score in the general election of 2019. We, therefore, urge all powers in APC not to tamper with the smooth operation of a winning team."