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Tunde Oyekola and James Abraham
Barely five days after thugs disrupted an All Progressives Congress stakeholders meeting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, a fresh attack on party loyalists in Edu local government council area of the state, led to an abrupt end of another meeting on Monday.
Monday’s meeting was convened to put finishing touches to preparations for Tuesday’s membership registration/revalidation exercise.
Recall that last Wednesday, violence erupted at a similar meeting of APC stakeholders at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Ilorin where more than 10 persons were seriously injured.
The latest round of violence erupted at a stakeholders meeting said to have been convened by former APC gubernatorial aspirants to sensitise members on the membership/ revalidation exercise.
By Hammed Shittu
Violence yesterday marred the stakeholdersâ meeting convened by the All Progressives Congress (APC) membership registration and revalidation committee sent from the national headquarters of the party to keep party members abreast of the exercise in Kwara State.
The meeting was held at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Ilorin, before it turned violent by the supporters of Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and that of the state Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
The two camps have been at each other throats for the past few months now over the control of the party in the state.
The national secretariat of the party recently issued a letter of appointment to the state Deputy Chairman of the party, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi, to be the acting chairman of the party in the state.
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Samson Folarin and Tunde Oyekola
Lawmakers elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State have supported the suspension of the party Caretaker Committee Chairman, Omolaja Bolarinwa.
The lawmakers made up of members of the State House of Assembly and their National Assembly counterparts said Bolarinwa’s sack was long overdue, citing a “plethora of misdeeds.”
Bolarinwa’s suspension and replacement with his erstwhile deputy, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi, was approved by the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led National Caretaker Committee of the party.
In a letter to the national caretaker committee dated January 14, 2021, and signed by the 24 House of Assembly members on a letterhead of the Speaker, the lawmakers accused Bolarinwa of involvement in “anti-party and anti-government activities.”
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The National Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has initiated moves to reconcile the Kwara State Governor, Mr. Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq; the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki.
The crisis of confidence among the three leaders has led to a split of the party into two factions in the state, with one faction backing the governor while the other faction is supporting Mohammed and Saraki.
The apparent misunderstanding between the three leaders came to a peak when the Mala Buni-led caretaker committee of the party removed the state Chairman, Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa, and replaced him with his deputy, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi.
Speaker, 28 other lawmakers support removal of Kwara APC Chair
On
As the crisis in Kwara State All Progressives Congress, APC, deepens, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, 21 other lawmakers and seven of the nine members of the National Assembly, NASS, from the state backed the removal of Bashir Bolarinwa as the state chairman of the party.
In a letter addressed to the National Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the APC and Yobe State governor, Alhaji Mai Buni, they argued that Bolarinwa’s removal would instill discipline and restore sanity to the party in the state.
The Speaker and 21 other members, in the letter, stated that the appointment of the state deputy chairman of the party, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi as the acting chairman of the caretaker committee of the party was in the right direction.