By Mumini Abdulkareem
The Kwara Unity Forum (KUF), Oro Chapter has threatened to campaign for the councillorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Oro Ward II, Mrs Fatimah Toyin Alabi in the council election scheduled for Saturday.
KUF, which is a forum of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is believed to be sponsored by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
It was however not clear last night whether the move had the approval of the minister.
The grudge of the group, it was gathered was as a result of the fallout of the councillorship contest in the ward which has left a crack within the party in the area.
Trouble reportedly started during the selection of APC candidate to contest for the councillorship of the ward.
It was gathered that the KUF candidate for the contest who also has the backing of the minister, Bode Adeniran was rejected by the other loyalists of the APC because of the issue of zoning.
The grouse was that the preferred candidate of KUF, Adeniran is from Oro zone in the ward, the same axis that produced the minister, a member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon Mathew Babaoye and also the ward chairman, Hon Bayo Kolawole.
With Iludun Oro and Agbeola Oro not producing any aspirant and the two contenders from Irebode disqualified for non-commitment, the party adopted Habeeb Olalere Quadri who hails from Okeola-Oro and the younger brother of ace Nollywood actor, Yinka Quadir, as its councillorship candidate for Oro Ward II.
All the entreaties by elders of the party to make KUF members align with the decision allegedly fell on deaf ears as they scouted for one Lukman Mustapha from where the ticket was zoned to, as their candidate.
Unfortunately, Mustapha failed to scale the hurdle as he was said not to be popular among the electorate. The development reportedly irked KUF members hence their resolve to campaign for the PDP candidate, Mrs Alabi.
Speaking with this medium, last night, a chieftain of the party who pleaded anonymity said, “In Oro ward II, we have three zones, Oro zone, Oke-Ola/Irebode and Iludun/Agbeola zones. Oro zone is where the minister, party chairman and House of Assembly member currently reside.
“The two candidates from Irebode were disqualified because they are not committed members of the party. But Iludun Oro and Agbeola axis has no candidate and that was why the brother of Yinka Quadri, Habeeb emerged.
Responding to the issue in a telephone chat last night with our reporter, the Chairman of APC, Oro ward II, Hon Bayo Kolawole confirmed the minister’s largesse to the party and exonerated him of the issue.
“I don’t know the problem with the KUF. How can a party be negotiating with a forum under it to get votes. Is this not ridiculous? The KUF is a forum under the APC and a certain person who goes by the name Segun Cyril Agbara will be calling for negotiation.
“We just learnt about an hour ago (7:30pm) that the minister has given the party N500,000 for the election. So what is their problem?”
