Date: 2020-12-31

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Kwara State, Chief Rex Olawoye, has urged the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to reconcile factions in the state.

The former chairman of Ifelodun Council and immediate past Publicity Secretary of APC in Kwara said the crisis within the party, if left unresolved, would lead to disaster during elections.

Kwara APC is torn between loyalists of Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazak and those of the party chairman, Bashir Bolarinwa.

Previous attempts to resolve the crisis locally were futile.

According to party faithful, the development may affect the party’s fortunes in the 2023 general election.

Olawoye said: "I am seriously praying that we will not have a situation that will disunite the party in future. We laboured to put Governor AbdulRazak in power and we can't afford to pull him down. That is where I stand. No matter the magnitude of the crisis, I still believe that it can be resolved amicably.

"I am of the view that only the national executive of the APC could resolve the cold war within the party in the state. Every attempt at resolving it at the local level had been fruitless. The headquarters of the party should timely set up a reconciliatory committee, so that we will not run a tattered party in Kwara."

While criticising former President Olusegun Obasanjo for allegedly crippling the powers of the party chairmen from the council to the national level, the party chief canvassed a return to the old order, when there was party supremacy.

He challenged the governor to recognise deserving members of the party.

"The governor has sufficient arsenal in his armoury to put the party together in Kwara. I am not talking about money alone, but recognition for all the members of the party. The lack of recognition made some of us to defect from the political group of Dr. Bukoka Saraki.

"We all worked for the emergence of APC in Kwara and I think such persons should be treated well to give the party a sense of responsibility, honour and candour. We should note that year 2023 is not too far from now."