By LEKAN AGBOOLA, Ilorin –
A group in the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Integrity Group, loyal to the Information and Culture minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has kicked against consensus arrangements being proposed by a faction of the party in the state for the forthcoming congress of the party .
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin at the weekend, the chairman of the group, Engineer Umar Shabba, said that the Integrity Group is out to prove its numerical strength in the party as the faction has a majority within the ruling party in the state.
Shaaba said, “we hereby state categorically that we are fully prepared to go for direct congresses immediately after the registration/revalidation exercise. We are not, and shall not be part of the unilateral “consensus” arrangement being proposed by the governor’s group”.
“The beauty of democracy is in allowing minority to have their say, even when majority have their way. The only civilized way to prove our numerical strength is through congresses, not by any proxy”, he said.
Speaking through Captain Isiaka Alao (Rtd), The Vice Chairman, of the APC faction, Alhaji Shabba regretted the current state of disunity in the state chapter of the party saying that ; “with regret, it has become an open secret that our governing party in this state is critically ill, lying in the operation theatre for surgery. Regrettably still, the Chief Medical Director is contemplating “Mercy Killing”.
The group, which describes itself as a think-tank and an advisory body that provides intellectual support services to the State Working Committee of the party, also called on the national leadership of the APC to address complaints of party members that were not registered in the last registration and revalidation exercise.
It said that aggrieved members of the party should be allowed to take custody of registration materials for the scheduled registration exercise, saying, “Justice demands that complainant in a dispute should not be deprived the fruits of his/her complaints. We ought to take custody of the fresh materials.
“You are not unaware that Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq’s group made total mess of the membership a registration/revalidation exercise in this State.
“Is it not an antithesis to the catalogue of moralities of ‘O To Gee’ philosophy that the product of the struggle was unable to conduct free, fair and transparent demography of our political family (APC)? Nothing could be more shameful indeed!
“While many prospective members were short out, the existing family members were deliberately blacken out of the exercise. This necessitated a formal complaints lodged by the l legacy group to the national leadership of the party.
“Much as we appreciate the positive disposition of the National Headquarters to our plights in Kwara state, we hereby appeal to their conscience that justice must not only be done but must be seen to have been done. Otherwise, the corporate existence of our party might be in jeopardy.
The group, however, expressed their unalloyed support for the leadership of the factional chairman of the party in the state, Honourable Bashir Bolarinwa, the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Minister of State for Transport, Senator Gbemisola Saraki.
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