Caretaker committee: Kwara APC leaders accuse Abdulrazaq of imposition

By Steve Oni, Ilorin.

Some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state have accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of a surreptitious plot to truncate the swearing in of the state’s party chairman, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, as caretaker committee chair.

In a joint press conference by the three factions out of four which make up the party in the state, a leader of one of the factions, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, said: “Information at our disposal is that Governor AbdulRazaq has gone to the national headquarters of the party in Abuja to urge the national caretaker committee to exempt Bolarinwa from the swearing in as the chairman on Friday (11th December, 2020), on the ground that Kwara executive put in place in 2018 was not a product of a Congress.”

The joint press conference, held in Ilorin on Thursday evening, was attended by leaders of the two other tendencies, namely, Ayo Obisesan of Lai Mohammed group and Oladimeji Mustapha of Gbemisola Saraki’s group, as well as stalwarts of the party such as Professor Abdulraheem Oba, among others.

“The weather-beaten claim of his (governor) group is that Kwara state executive, under Bolarinwa is a caretaker committee, which is farther from the truth.

“The state executive committee of the party established in 2018 under Bolarinwa chairmanship was duly constituted by members of the party including the governor.

“The efficiency of our structure and high tolerance of party members accounted for APC 100 percent score in the general elections of 2019.

“We therefore urge all powers in the APC not to tamper with the smooth operations of a winning team.”

The APC leaders, who described the alleged surreptitious plan by the state Governor to exclude the state party executive from swearing in as illegal, said the state party executive should be given the same treatment like those in other states of the federation.

According to him, any attempt to exclude the Kwara state executive led by Bolarinwa from the swearing in would amount to discriminatory application of the care taker policy of the party.

Iyiola-Oyedepo explained that the directives of the party should be followed to the letter without any bias against any state, adding that Kwara state APC executive under Bolarinwa was duly constituted in 2018.

End.