It has been one case of accusation and counter accusation as the crisis in Kwara APC deepens with every growing day. The latest in the chain of events is the opening of a new party secretariat in Ilorin by the Minister of Information; Lai Mohammed led faction of the party.
Mohammed, while speaking at the state capital, Ilorin, at the launch of the parallel party secretariat also went further to state that the party will soon organize a fresh registration /revalidation of members in the state. He said this was particularly necessary as the previous exercise done by the party was not “genuine” as it did not capture all members of the party.
While the relationship was still good, the party operated from the state secretariat situated in the Tanke area of the city, but since the emergence of the new faction, they have conducted their activities elsewhere before finally unveiling the new secretariat in the highbrow GRA area of the same town.
The Honourable Minister made scathing remarks about the Governor who he said has betrayed the trust of the founding members of the party that gave him the platform to become the Governor.
In his words; “ The recently concluded membership registration exercise conducted in the state is a charade, as most members of the party were not given the the opportunity to register as the registration documents were not made available to them.”
“We didn’t know him before, he has no campaign office. The battle line is now drawn; without you, members, there would be no APC in the state. I want to assure you all that no party congress will hold in Kwara State until the fresh registration/revalidation exercise is conducted for all APC members in Kwara State.”
While the drama continues and with the potential to degenerate further, ex-senate president and former two-time governor of the state, Senator Bukola Saraki and the PDP in Kwara State have been making moves in a bid to re-capture the state that was predominantly under the leadership of the Saraki dynasty.
Even before the unveiling of the new faction, the main opposition party had sensed division among the ranks in the party, which led to the visit of Bukola Saraki two months ago to stake-holders within the political hierarchy in a bid to entreat their favour towards 2023.
Whether this internal rumblings and bickering in the APC will be resolved before the election proper still remains a huge ask for now as both factions are poised for a showdown that might linger for a long time, one thing remains clear however; the longer their house remains divided, the easier it is for Saraki and the PDP to take back a state they see as truly theirs.
The APC won the last gubernatorial elections in 2019 by a landslide margin in Kwara State with AbdulRaman AbdulRasaq as the newly elected governor, a first major shift from the dominance of the Saraki dynasty.
