Announcement of candidate deadlocked
Agents disrupt exercise, chase electoral officers
Party fails to beat INEC deadline
Aspirants, stakeholders accused Natโl leadership of imposition
By Mumini AbdulKareem
The crisis rocking the faction of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), led by Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, worsened last night, as the party failed to announce any aspirant as its gubernatorial candidate for the 2019 election.
The minister, who it was gathered, had relocated to Kwara for the exercise, Saturday morning, left the state on yesterday, amidst protest and allegations of imposition by the gubernatorial aspirants of the party.
The development reportedly denigrated at the Savannah Hotel, Ilorin, where the national electoral officers had planned to announce the results in a bid to beat the 12 midnight deadline stipulated by the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for submission of names of candidates.
But the announcement was however disrupted by party agents who held up the national officers in the hotel for several hours and later chased them out over alleged plans to doctor the results and announce the name of a preferred candidate, believed to be AbdulRahman AlbdulRazaq.
Several calls to the Chairman of the party, Hon Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa were not answered and the Publicity Secretary of the party, one Mr Aro, who promised to get back to our reporter failed to do so before switching off his phone.
But a very reliable source at the venue last night, who confided in our reporter under strict anonymity, said that the national officers had left the hotel without the announcement of the result, this morning.
โThey couldnโt announce the result. Most of the agents of the aspirants chased them out and rejected any announcement to that effect. We left the venue past 12 midnight, without anything concreteโ, he noted.
On Saturday, two gubernatorial aspirants of the party stormed the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of the Journalists (NUJ) in Ilorin to complain of plans to disenfranchise them from the process.
According to Moshood Mustapha in one of the press conferences, the party should declare him winner or cancel the exercise over alleged act of impunity and attempt to stop his emergence.
โHow can you disqualify a candidate that had duly undergone screening at the middle of the election. This is nothing but a calculated attempt to stop my emergence because they have noticed that we are winning and coasting home to victory before the rush to make that announcement that I was disqualified which demoralised by people.
โI have been a foundation and loyal party man and not a mole. I believe the party will do the needful because it seems there are certain forces that are determined to ensure we donโt emerge despite following all the rules and spending lots of money to come this far,โ he added.
In his own press conference, another governorship aspirant, Malam Soliu Mustapha noted that all efforts made to establish who authenticated the report of disqualification at the middle of the exercise pointed at the leader of the team of electoral officers.
โI called the Minister, Lai Muhammed and the partyโs National Publicity Secretary but they said they were not aware of it. I am not a mole and I donโt regret working with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki when he joined us in the APC and now that he has left, we have parted. I have been a foundation member of the party and even I was formerly in the CPC with the president.
โI have no intention to leave the party as a loyal party man and I believe they will do the right thingโ, he said.
Meanwhile, a group known as Kwara State Coordinator of Kwara Elders Unity Forum (KEUF) and Kwara Rescue Movement, yesterday, alleged that events during the APC governorship primary in the state had given them reasons to worry.
They accused APC national leadership of imposition and threatened defection.
Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the State Coordinator of KEUF Dr Saliu Ajia alleged that the APC national secretariat had anointed one of the aspirants, saying if that happens, his group might be forced to defect to another party.
KEUF is being led by former governor of the state, Cornelius Adebayo.
Dr Ajia said, โIn a situation where a congress will be called and some people will be given special consideration above all other aspirants. What is going on in Kwara State today is a charade. Under All Progressives Congress (APC), a party some of us have been working for, and people have taken the laws into their hands. They have decided to anoint a particular aspirant who seems to be the least qualified of all the aspirants,โ he added.
