Date: 2021-02-03

Hundreds of members of All Progressives Congress(APC) in Kwara state Tuesday staged a peaceful protest in Ilorin over alleged move to hijack the membership registration exercise in the state.

The party membership registration exercise is billed to start next Tuesday.

They threatened to distrupt the membership registration exercise of the party in the state if the national working committee of the party refused to address the undercurrent issues in the state chapter of the party.

The protesters were mainly from three of the four tendencies that make up the party in the state. They are Chief Iyiola Oyedepo, Infromation Minister Lai Mohammed and Minister of State(Transporation) Gbemisola Rukayah Saraki.

The spokesperson of the protesters, Mr. John Adegboye who spoke with journalists in Ilorin said that, "You remember that sometimes ago, a press conference was held to the effect that we are not going to tolerate unwarranted interference in intra party democracy in APC Kwara state chapter".

According to him, "along that time, we saw our governor, manipulating event to suit his purpose and install his stooge as chairman of the APC at variance with what the major supporters of APC want, Hon Bashir Bolarinwa, the chairman that led us into an election that we had 35-0'. He said, ''Why we are here today is because we are aware that right behind us here (Government chalet) Senator John Danboyi and other members of the party’s registration Committee from Abuja are already there .

"They didn’t invite other tendencies, there are four tendencies that make up APC, one tendency belongs to our governor, and three other tendencies belong to Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, Senator Gbemisola Saraki and Alh Lai Mohammed.

'Why is it that only one tendency want to control the process of registration. We have reasons to be against that, that is what we have been saying since."

Adegboye added, 'Let me tell all Nigerians, if our grievances are not addressed, we are going to distrupt the exercise in the state. It’s not a threat, that is what we will do.

"You can see all of us conducting ourselves honourably, members of the party are trying to perpetrate fraud and it will not stand the test of time. It’s capable of destroying the party and we are die-hard members of APC in Kwara state "

He therefore called on the national working committee of the party to rise up to the situation so as to ensure unity and stability of the party in the state.