Date: 2021-09-08

Kwara State Chairman of Caretaker Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)Alhaji Abdullahi Samari has described the Local Government Congress of the party at the weekend, a huge success, stressing that there was no parallel congress anywhere in the state.

Samari said this at a press conference at the State Secretariat of the party along Commissioner's way GRA, Ilorin on Tuesday on the just concluded APC local government congresses which took place across the 16 local government areas of the state.

He said, "Permit me to reiterate at this junction that the Congress was a huge success and we thank party elders and stakeholders for this beautiful outcome. It is also important to make it clear that there was no parallel local government congress in Kwara state."

He explained that "Unlike the ward congress which involved all party members, the local congress was not an all-comers affair it was strictly a delegate's election in which only accredited delegates, including elected statutory delegates were allowed to take part."

He also said, "It is in fact a constitution requirement for the delegates list to be made available to INEC, Police prior to the commencement of voting at the congress venue. The exercise must be conducted by accredited party officials and duly monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be called a lawful congress.

"This is exactly the procedures we followed as a party. Any group of persons who claimed to conduct anything contrary to this in Kwara or anywhere else are just a bunch of jokers and mischief-makers who should never be taken seriously.

Samari however said that grey areas within the party can be taken care of, through negotiations and compensation which the party has offered.

He said, "Nevertheless, we are confident that any grey area can always be addressed through lawful corridors of negotiations and compensation which our party has always offered. There can be no denying the fact that we need that spirit of giving and take to strengthen our party, and we thank our leaders and members for believing in the leadership of the governor to ensure that nobody leaves the table without anything."

He also said that the party will not close its doors to resolving any genuine internal grievances through the laid down rules of the party.

"As a party, we are certainly not going to close our doors to resolving any genuine internal grievances, if any, in strict compliance to the laid down rules of the party.

"Bonafide members should therefore avail of crisis resolution mechanisms and the time-honoured golden rules of the party, and not allow themselves to be used to mislead the public for the selfish interest of anyone. "He said