The visit of the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to Kwara
State recently has caused serious disquiet in the state chapter of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) especially over alleged plans by a
national leader of the party to recruit aggrieved chieftains against
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq ahead of 2023 politics. HEAD POLITICS,
MUMINI ABDULKAREEM writes on the issue.
The visit to Kwara State by the Minister of Interior and a core Tinubu
loyalist, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola recently appeared to have brought
another dimension to the crisis rocking the state chapter of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and the end according to feelers coming
from the party might not be in sight yet.
Presently, there are allegations and counter accusations over an
alleged plot by a national leader of the party in cohorts with some
aggrieved members in the state most of whom contested the
gubernatorial ticket with Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to move
against the latter over actions perceived to be contrary to some
gentlemen agreements between the leaders.
For the uninitiated, the issue at hand according to top chieftains in
the APC allegedly started after accusation by some leaders that
Governor Abdulrazaq following his electoral victory reneged on some
key political promises made upon his assumption of office. While the
grudge over this particular ‘perception’ was on and yet to be
assuaged, the action of the Governor since inauguration has further
split the party along horizontal lines that appears to have defiled
all probable solutions.
Many of the aggrieved party stakeholders who accused the Governor of
not carrying them along in the scheme of things have further been
reportedly angered by the approach to issue of Governance so far
especially on appointments and style of administration.
While the issue raged, the last straw that reportedly broke the
camel’s back even though the plot had long existed according to party
insiders, was how the Governor handled the constitution of his yet to
be inaugurated cabinet. Several of those party leaders that were
initially aggrieved reportedly fumed over how the Governor in an
attempt to consolidate his hold on the party, dropped the nominees
provided for him to be considered for appointment and shot the said
leaders out of any major decision of his government despite earlier
assurances to the contrary which followed a stakeholders meeting that
came up shortly before the announcement of the cabinet to address
their concerns and complains of not being carried along.
Reacting to the issue of their alleged neglect by the Governor prior
to the formation of the cabinet, a leader of the party and former
member of the House of Representatives for Ilorin West/Asa federal
constituency, Hon Moshood Mustapha told Pilot Politics on telephone
that as a party man who is passionate about the development of the
state, he would only comment after the cabinet has been formed and
would give his opinion about it.
“The list is not out yet and I don’t see reason why we are
unnecessarily agitated about it. I am sure it will take care of all
the tendencies that formed the APC at the end of the day. The Governor
requested for the list long time ago and I am sure he’s working on it.
The issue of people coming with stories insinuating that there is
crisis in the party is not something we should take with any kind of
seriousness. He (Abdulrazaq) will definitely have his government in
place and this is the first time some of our brothers who came to join
us in APC will be in a party that will form the government at the
state level. So of course there will be a lot of agitation and
permutation in the system and that is exactly what we are seeing. It
is not unexpected for us who had been in government. There will always
be a lot of horse trading, bickering and some sycophants will come and
say different things even if they know it’s not true just to curry
favour.
“Everybody fall under one tendency or the other in the APC during the
formation of the party and I am very sure he (Governor) has collected
names from all tendencies, groups, shades of opinion and different
leaders. This is his government and we should allow him to come out
with the list that is best suitable for him to run his government.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no crisis anywhere and I want to
correct an impression… that some people (who) came out to aspire to be
governors or senators among others automatically put them in a
position where we see them as leaders of the party. We have other
stakeholders too who are even more qualified and important than some
of us that came out to contest and that is the truth. We have given
him the mandate and this is time for governance, we should allow him.
(But) when he comes out with the list, if some of us are not okay with
it, we will come out and say it. I don’t see any reason why we should
be too unnecessarily pre-emptive. At the stakeholders’ level, we will
ask question and discussion if we don’t know any of them that made the
list eventually and we believe they are people that have not
participated, some of us will talk”, Mustapha added.
That was then and although the former gubernatorial aspirant may still
be keeping his summation of the scenario to his chest for now, some
top leaders of the party appeared very bittered about the present
narrative. A very top party chieftain who did not want his name in
print because of the sensitivity of the issue recently told Pilot
Politics that “Anybody that is not a sycophant is not happy with what
is going on in Kwara as far as the Government is concerned”.
But for the Governor’s apologists, his style of governance appears to
be the best thing that has happened to the state so far as it has
taken the hands of the so called party hawks off the corridor of power
that would have conflicted the Governor in taking some of his populist
decisions that may have endeared him to some of the electorate who
have risen above party and partisan lines.
However, as fallout of the cold war between the aggrieved leaders in
the state, there seems to be an alleged plan by some national leaders
of the party especially from the Lagos wing to gang up with the
aggrieved chieftains against Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. The
visit of no other person than Aregbesola and the manner of his
engagement in the state according to political pundits, signpost some
underground activities is already ongoing to that effect. Aregbesola
who observed his Jumaat Prayers at the Sharia Court of Appeal when he
was in the state during the visit curiously did not visit the Governor
according to party insiders. Although, the minister, according to
politic observers could be excused if he was on a private visit, it
however leaves much to be desired for him to have boycotted the
government while he was seen in the company of a lawmaker said to be
loyal to the Lagos wing of the party.
Any doubt about the negative impact the minister’s visit had on the
internal wrangling within the party evaporated last week when a leaked
audio of a leader of the party, Hon Ibrahim Iliasu found its way to
the media space.
In the audio, Iliasu was heard attacking national leader of the party
and former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu and his 2023 ambition and
further accused the Jagaban of deploying his trusted loyalist and
ally, Aregbesola to Kwara to recruit aggrieved party chieftains like
Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
Prof AbdulRaheem Shuaib Oba, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo and Minister of
State for Transports, Gbemisola Saraki among others against the
Governor who they percieved may become an unpredictable ally to the
course of Tinubu’s 2023 ambition in Kwara especially in the light of
the recent events.
For Iliasu, it was a daring move against the Jagaban for which he has
no apology and it remains to be seen how the Lagos axis of the party
and their lieutenants from Kwara will handle and respond to the
situation.
Hear him: “In the first instance, I don’t even know how the audio
regarding my discussion with anybody got into the social media. The
man who stole my discussion with those that came to hold meeting with
me will be liable to whatever I decide to do at the end of the day
because I am still thinking on it. He never sought my consent in
recording all that I said.
“I have nothing against anybody, I only said the fact that I know
about individuals in the party and what I said are facts. It has
nothing to do with the party. I am an APC member and my comments have
nothing to do with the party.
“I only talked about the behaviour of some personalities and what they
are doing because I know some facts about them. I have the right to
express my opinion as a citizen and the people whom I was addressing
came to my residential home. And like I said, let them go and find out
if what I said about these people is not correct.
“My message is very simple and that is we should all rally round the
government to be able to deliver the dividends of democracy to the
people, enough of this wrangling.
“When the Minister of Interior (Aregbesola) came to Kwara and held
secret meeting with some people, why did they not publish all the
discussion they had there (with him) or didn’t they discussed Kwara
issue. If a whole Minister of Interior visited Kwara State and never
deemed it fit to reach out to leaders of the party… what is the secret
meeting all about.
He (Aregbesola) cannot leave Osun state to come and disorganise us in
Kwara, he will find himself to blame at the end of the day because we
are not ready to take instruction from anybody. So the people should
continue to give maximum support to the Governor and anybody that is
trying to subvert that will see the other side of us”, he noted.
Although his comment has expectedly attracted responses from some
youth stakeholders in the party, the reply may however additional fuel
to the conflagration threatening to consume the party rather than
extinguish it following the untoward attack against Hon Iliasu while
they appear to be calling for peace and even divine intervention over
the issue. However, unfolding events in the coming days will give
direction as to where the party, aggrieved stakeholders and the
Governor are heading – whether to the point of genuine reconciliation
that will be beneficial to all parties concerned or continuous
hostility leading to the next election in the state which might be
very costly to governance and politics. For now, it’s a case of siddon
look.
