By Mike Adeyemi
A member of Kwara State House of Assembly representing Ojomu/Balogun Constituency in Offa, Hon. Saheed Popoola has chided the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq over his recent comment questioning how 1billion naira All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign fund for the 2019 elections in the state, was spent.
Governor Abdulrazaq had recently during the launch of a book titled: “Otoge” in Ilorin, said some cabals within the party who received hundreds of millions of naira as donations for the Kwara struggle, did not deliver any money to him.
The Governor also claimed that he was by-passed in the composition of the campaign structure he was asked to fund by the then party leadership.
However, while featuring on Radio programme on Harmony FM, Idofian titled, ‘Kwara Efunra’, penultimate Thursday, Popoola picked holes in the allegations made by the Governor.
He expressed disappointment over the utterances alluded to the Governor on the issue.
According to the Lawmaker, “I was taken aback when the Governor raised issue bothering on the 1 billion naira campaign fund. He shouldn’t claim he did the campaign alone.
“When we started, the Governor did not have any poster, neither did he have a campaign office. Oshiomhole gave 1.5 billion naira to every state , the Governor collected the money. May be we should ask him where the said money is,” Popoola asserted.
He, however, accused Governor Abdulrazaq of sponsoring campaign of calumny against him and the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
“The Governor and his stooges sponsored a propagandists to insult me and the Minister of Information, Alh. Lai Mohammed. I’m so much disappointed that the Governor could utter such a statement at a time when other state governors are unveiling developmental projects. With this development, it shows that Abdulrazaq is set to destroy APC in Kwara.
“He gave N3million naira to propagandists to accused me of collecting N10million dollar from former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. You (Gov. Abdulrazaq) don’t want to see me and you don’t want me to collect money from another person (Saraki) who wants to see me,” the Lawmaker mused.
Popoola, then, emphasised that there is no Kwara APC Congress in sight as long as Basir Omolaja Bolarinwa (BOB) is not recognized at the state party level.
“BOB is the legal chairman of the party in Kwara. The only sworn- in APC chairman in Kwara is BOB and he will continue to remain so. Abdulrazaq used back door to bring in Sanmari. He also got the party ticket through back door. I wondered how some people passed while in school.
“The Governor didn’t manage the party well. He is not a good manager. If anybody is to claim glory for the struggle in the state, it is Alh. LAK Jimoh. Claiming otoge glory by the Governor is wrong. He is just a beneficiary of the struggle of everybody in Kwara, ” he affirmed.
