By Mumini AbdulKareem
The leadership crisis rocking the Alanamu ward of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the suspension of Hon Moshood Mustapha assumed another twist at the weekend as police summoned the party executives over the issue.
The summon, it was leant, followed the alleged sealing of the party’s secretariat at the ward which further degenerated into gale of suspension among the party executives.
Trouble reportedly started after the party executives led by the state Chairman and Secretary, Alhaji AbdulRahman Jimoh and Mallam Abdulwasiu Kehinde Tetenji respectively announced the suspension of Mustapha for six month over alleged anti-party activities.
The decision was said to have been rejected by his loyalists as the Alanamu APC Vice Chairman, Hajia Iyabo Lawal issued a counter statement to suspend other party executives not in Mustapha’s camp.
A source who confided in National Pilot over the matter on condition of anonymity said MM (as Mustapha is known in the political circles) supporters thereafter sealed off the party’s secretariat at Isale Aluko area of the state capital, alleging that the rent was being paid by their principal.
“The development irked the party and after consultations with some elders, the party executives decided to go and forcefully open it. It was in that process that Moshood Mustapha’s loyalists reported the case at the “C” Division Police station Oja-Oba which led to their summon to forestall peace”, the source added.
At the police station on Saturday, scores of party members including the Chairman and Secretary who were loyal to the leadership of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, protested the action of the loyalists of the former lawmaker and emphasised that the party’s decision remain supreme.
The protesters who carried placards with inscription like “We believe in Saraki’s leadership”, “Who is MM” among others, stormed the ‘C’ Division police station to express their displeasure chanting solidarity songs in support of the decision of the party.
It was gathered that all entreaties made by the police authority to settle the matter amicably were deadlocked and policemen were later drafted to guide the building.
However, MM denied the accusation that he ordered that the secretariat should be placed under lock adding that he remained a bonafide member of the APC.
In a separate statement by his media aide, AbdulAzeez Kayode titled “Leave MM out of the APC crisis in Alanamu Ward,” over the matter, he denied online report that MM led OPC team to shut down the APC secretariat, describing it as false, baseless and misleading adding that linking him with APC crisis in Alanamu ward is an insult on his personality and totally unacceptable.
“The crisis in Alanamu is between two splinter groups of the excos in the ward who are laying claim to the ownership of the ward secretariat. As a means of forestalling violence, the DPO of ‘C’ Division directed that the secretariat be shut temporarily pending when all issues will be resolved.
Similarly, in an earlier statement signed by the suspended Vice Chairman, Hajia Iyabo Lawal, Youth Leader, Abdulganiyu Saka Jatto and Alhaji Suleiman Yahaya, said Moshood Mustapha “remains a respected leader in the ward and has contributed to the formation, growth and development of the party”.
Reacting to the issue, last night, the state Chairman of APC, Hon Ishola Balogun-Fulani told this medium in a telephone chat that the party is waiting for the official report of the ward before it would take any decision.
“We have laid down rules and everybody knows it. The norm is for the ward level of the party to do the needful and report to the local government and then all the way to the state. For now, they have not informed us, but we are waiting for their official report on the matter from the ward before we will look into it,” he posited.
