More facts have emerged on why members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who are loyalists of Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara state.
The former APC members who are at loggerheads with Kwara state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq told press that the emergence of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the national chairman of the APC influenced their decision to call it quit with the party.
Alhaji Lawal Shehu, a chieftain of the party said they strongly believed that they cannot get justice in the APC since Adamu, who was the chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee is now the national chairman.
When asked whether they got the blessing of Lai Mohammed to leave the APC for SDP, he said the Minister appealed to them not to dump the party as the whole issue will be sorted out before the election but they can’t wait because the election is just few months away.
“Ordinarily, we did not want to leave the APC, a party we laboured to build. That was why we have remained there since 2019 when Governor Abdulrazak began his divide and rule tactics, sidelining all those who made it possible for him to become governor, especially our leader, Lai Mohammed who risked everything to dislodge the PDP and the Saraki hegemony in Kwara”.
“We have always wanted peace and that was why we attended all the meetings called by the party leadership. However, when Abdullahi Adamu was made the national reconciliation committee chairman and he visited Kwara state, we protested that he was bias in his handling of the crisis as almost everything he did favoured the governor”.
“He only met with the governor, he never met with Alhaji Lai Mohammed despite the fact that the two of them are the major contending forces in Kwara APC. We said it then that we are displeased with Adamu because his body language and conduct were at variance with stated objective of the reconciliation committee. He was very bias in his handling of the crisis”.
“Now with the election just few months away, the same Adamu has been made the national chairman of the party. We believe he will only continue from where he has started from and there is no way we will get justice with him as chairman. Right now, Governor Abdulrazak has vowed that only his loyalists will become various candidates in the 2023 elections and he will carry out that threat with the support of Adamu. That is why we have decided to pitch our tent elsewhere”.
“Yes, we discussed with our leader, Alhaji Lai Mohammed but his usual response was that we should be patient. He has told us he remained a founding member of the APC and he will not leave the party for anywhere. We have not disobeyed him by leaving the APC but we just felt that we need to act fast now so that we won’t be left stranded at the eleventh hour” he said.
