After its first year as the ruling party, stakeholders in the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has found it difficult to rise above its protracted crisis. ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM writes on the issue.
The Genesis
The last political dispensation no doubt presented an interesting scenario for the leading opposition party in Kwara state. Coming under the banner of the O to ge slogan, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some other opposition parties found a common ground to unit and challenge the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The arranged marriage (whether holy or unholy) birthed a clean sweep of all elective positions in the state from the Governorship, House of Assembly, House of Representative and Senatorial elections for the former opposition party. However, since that triumph, it has been a very difficult victory to manage for the ruling party which has found itself trapped in one crisis after the other more than a year uninterrupted. More worrisome is the recent open outburst from some of the aggrieved party leaders against the Governor. And if such rage is anything to go, then Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq should by now be ready for a showdown with the same men and foot soldiers who toiled and soiled and overcame daunting circumstances to ensure his emergence.
Snippet that the party gladiators opposed to the governor’s style of leadership and alleged self- centeredness have finally drawn the battle line came to the fore as recent as last month during a stakeholders meeting in Ilorin West, the governor’s local government. Held at the residence of a former gubernatorial aspirant who was at the forefront of opposition to the governor during the party primaries prior 2015 election, Prof Shuaib Abdulraheem Oba, the meeting was like a dress rehearsal of what is expected to follow in the days and months ahead with former PDP chairman and one of the arrowheads of the O to ge proponent, Iyiola Oyedepo in attendance.
After refraining from making any public comment to criticise the Governor, Akogun as his supporters preferred to address him in the presence of other party elders and leaders attacked the Governor and vowed to lead another campaign to dislodge him at the appropriate time just like he (Oyedepo) did during the last election against the PDP. But he was not alone.
Impending Outburst
For many political observers in the state, Oyedepo’s outburst coming at this time cannot be totally isolated from a similar one recently by the former Kwara Central Senatorial aspirant during the last general election, Comrade Misbaudeen Esinrogunjo who reportedly said Akogun confided in him of an impending intra party crisis due to the deliberate effort of the Governor to render the aggrieved leaders redundant and irrelevant as elders and stakeholders in the party. Although Esinrogunjo later repudiated and dissociated himself from the leaked audio and all its contents, the stream of events since then has given a semblance that the aggrieved leaders and apologists on one hand and the governor and his supporters on the extreme have already started warming up for another face-off some months after a related episode between the Governor and the party chairman, Bashiru Omolaja Bolarinwa (BOB) during a trip to Abuja for a party function last year rocked the party.
Divided Executive
To be sure, the crisis has already started taken its toll on the party with a divided executive. As things stand now, members of the exco are openly divided along partisan lines with the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, his counterpart for Transport (State), Gbemisola Saraki and Hon Saheed Popoola leading a group represented by BOB while the Governor, former factional chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, Bar Kunke Suleiman and Hon Iliasu Ibrahim among others have thrown their weight behind Governor Abdulrazaq’s faction represented by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Tajudeen Folaranmi Aro. Any sign that the gladiators might drop their arsenal soon evaporated recently when the arrowheads of the two factions, Bolarinwa and Aro clashed in public during different radio programmes to appraise the governors one year in office.
Contentious Achievements
While dismissing the Governor’s much hyped achievements by his supporters in the last one year, Bolarinwa not only waved aside the infrastructures the government boasted to have constructed, his decision to praise previous administration for doing same was a no-no for his opponents. The embattled chairman went further to say such infrastructures are not the benchmark to measure good governance and advise a think-outside-the-box approach. According to him, “I salute him (Governor), but I advised that we (party) promised to do things differently with the next level slogan. Governance is beyond building roads, school and hospital which were also done by past governments. (This) government must think outside the box especially with the covid-19 pandemic and crash in crude oil price at the international market. I played my part as the party chairman to ensure the governor emerged and nobody including the governor can claim to be bigger than the party. He is the governor of the state and I am the chairman of the party and those appointed must do what the party wants”, he noted.
Few days after his submission, his opponent in the party executive and staunch supporter of the Governor who is the PRO of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Aro blasted the party chairman over what he termed his anti-party comment and called for his resignation if he wants to assume the role of the opposition in the state. Aro in a statement he personally signed described the comments of Bolarinwa as a verbal somersault.
“The Constitution of the APC is clear that the Governor is the leader of the party in the state. Therefore, it amounts to gross indiscipline and act of anti-party to pour scorn on the achievements of the state government and wittingly commend the opposition. While the message being sent out through the anti state government radio program is clear, it has further exposed the underbelly animosity and mischief harboured against Governor AbdulRazaq. Given the blood and sweat that gave us the opportunity of this democratic experience, it is regrettable that Bolarinwa would prefer to protect his selfish ego at the detriment of the overriding interest of the party. We advise the chairman to resign if he wants to assume the position of the opposition to the Governor,” Aro’s statement added.
Wave of attacks
Since the PRO’s attack against the chairman, it has been a wave of assaults among party stalwarts on social, print and electronic media spaces within and outside the state. The SA Domestic to the Governor and one of his staunch loyalists, SOJ who hailed from Ekiti in Kwara South just like Bolarinwa (…) and Aro (Offa) descended on the party chairman and queried his reasoning. He said Bolarinwa needed to be taken to a mental asylum to have his brain examined for rubbishing the party’s one year achievements. Similarly, the pioneer chairman of PDP in Kwara State now one of the Governor’s emissaries, Bar Kunle Suleiman in a recent interview said the political crisis within the party had persisted after one year in government because the Governor and the Minister are at loggerheads over issue of leadership.
“It’s not everything that can be said in the public but the one that is clear is that the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed had issues with Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. If the two of them end their differences today, the crisis in the party would be over.
On the issue that the governor might be denied second term ticket because of the crisis, Suleiman said nobody can stop Abdulrazaq from securing the party’s ticket.
“They had said so before…but what was the case. The strategy for 2023 is already on, let them plan, we will also plan and we’ll meet on the field for the primaries and the actual election. Both BOB and the Minister belong to the legacy group. But there are other groups in the party that we are working together. Legacy group alone cannot stop us”, he noted.
The Defection
While the intrigue is ongoing, recent developments brought another dimension to the whole scenario with defection of one of the former leader of the party and a coordinator of the Legacy Group in Kwara North, Alhaji Kawu Manzuma Kawu, to the PDP. After Aro’s comment criticising the action, Kawu descended on the party’s mouthpiece adding that there is no regret leaving the APC.
“Aro is only blabbing to calm his paymaster. We are amused by his the unreasonable ranting. A controversial, ignorant and self-deluded PRO of Kwara APC in his reactions to our exit from their sinking and crisis-laden party and the ovation that heralded our movement to the PDP… While we would not like to join issues with a petty party officer who has relegated himself to mere instrument of destruction in the hands of one overlord (Governor) who is only using him to water his personal ego… the party has been thrown into a lingering crisis as a result of the irresponsibility and insensitivity of the Governor. It has also failed to live up to the expectations of the people. Kwarans are very disappointed in this administration. Should Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki and the PDP had taken people for granted like Abdulrazaq and his likes in time past while he held sway in the state, Kwara would have deteriorated to a political crisis theatre and the peaceful atmosphere would have been difficult to lean on today”, Kawu statement added.
The Pull Out
Unlike before when many of the party leaders and supporters preferred to remain in the party to fight the governor, the recent pull out by the Legacy Group has added another dimension to the whole scenario sending a strong message of the semblance of things to come in the months ahead. In an elaborate press conference held at the PDP secretariat Ilorin recently, the coordinator of the group of decampees, Kawu said they left APC with 10,000 members.
“Along the line, the centre cannot hold and things fall apart as a result of injustice, lack of fairness, recognition and sense of belonging to the party members. After waiting for a year, we discovered that the truth has prevailed, necessitating our movement as against compromising our principle. It is high time for us to maintain our clear noble principle towards bringing positive changes and betterment to our people. As you can see there is nothing in the PDP to share now to anyone, therefore our decamping from APC to PDP is based on conviction”, he noted.
Already, there are insinuation among political observers in the state that the defection of the Legacy Group to the PDP will not be without the knowledge and approval of Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Toward this end, is there going to be realignment of old forces from different political divides to deny Governor Abdulrazaq from having another shot at the governorship and are we likely to see former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, Lai Mohammed and Gbemi Saraki team up once again in another political romance in the race for 2023? Events unfolding will determine where the pendulum will swing.
