28th November, 2013
Stephen Oni/Ilorin
The national Leadership of the All Progressives Congress,APC, has been warned against handing over the leadership of the APC in Kwara State to Senator Bukola Saraki or Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed as being contemplated.
Addressing the press in Ilorin on Thursday 28 November,an APC chieftain in the state,Rev. Bunmi Olusona,on behalf of all the stakeholders of the party,said doing so would spell doom for the party in the 2015 elections.
The former chairman of Kawu Baraje faction of the PDP,Alhaji Ishola Balogun Fulani,stirred the hornet’s nest when he said,during a press briefing in Ilorin on Wednesday,that the APC to which the nPDP members are defecting into in Kwara state has no structure on ground ,adding that “anyone who wants to be part of the APC in the state should and must come to them.”
To Rev. Olusona,such statement was reckless, wondering how a stranger being offered a shelter would turn round to tell the person sheltering him that the house actually belongs to him,the stranger. This is not only immoral but also absurd.
He said:”Fulani and his people are up to certain mischief,targeted at forcefully and fraudulently arrogating to themselves what do not belong to them. It is so soon to get so desperate,even though we are conscious of the antecedents of these people.”
While they (nPDP) are welcome in the party,he warned that they must be ready to come to terms with the dictates of those they meet on ground.
Since the nPDP members claimed to have quit their old party because it was lacking democracy,Olusona said comments ascribed to Fulani gave the impression that they indeed may be the ones wanting to impose their will on their fellow party men,adding that if their fellow party men didn’t tolerate such excesses from them,they should not expect their hosts in Kwara APC to look on while they violate the rule of modesty.
Should the national leadership fail to accede to their request of not giving the APC leadership in the state to new comers,Olusona said they have other options,which will not be palatable for the party in the long run,adding, “to be forewarned is to be forearmed.”
But the Statement just issued by former Secretary of new PDP in Kwara State,,Prince Yemi Afolayan said there was no time the nPDP said the APC has no formidable structure in the state adding that the former Chairman,Hon Ishola Balogun-Fulani must have been quoted out of contest.
He therefore advised all Kwarans to see the merger as a clarion call on all to be state builders with a view to transforming the state into a model State in the country.