The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State loyal to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has described Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as a political liability, just as the governor dismissed the accusation.
The Deputy Chairman of the group known as “Kwara APC Loyal”, Chief Sunday Oyebiyi, expressed their concern on Wednesday at a news conference at the APC Secretariat in Ilorin.
But the spokesman of the group loyal to the governor, Alhaji Tajudeen Aro, cautioned against “indecent politics”, describing it as “ranting on mundane issues”.
Oyebiyi expressed fear that the ruling party may be heading towards electoral defeat in the 2023 general elections.
He therefore called for the intervention of the national secretariat of the party to address future fortune of the party in the state.
“Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is a political liability and that he is dangerously navigating the party back to Egypt instead of the Promised Land that the ‘O To Ge’ revolution had in stock for Kwarans,” he said.
Oyebiyi commended people of the state for their understanding and perseverance over alleged poor performance of the government.
He assured the people that, “there will definitely be light after this unexpected darkness that we find ourselves”.
The party chieftain criticised the the governor for appointing people without experience as commissioners.
According to him, the governor contradicted himself in a recent interview he granted on the question of merit in recruiting a few teachers by not applying same standard in appointing his commissioners.
He added that the people of Kwara accused the governor of not always available to run affairs of the state, accusing him of “globetrotting on taxpayers’ money”.
Oyebiyi, who called on the state governor to always be grateful to members of the party who worked for success of the party in 2019 rather than castigating them, declared that his electoral victory was not by individual efforts.
“Nothing can be truer than the notion that in every class of society, gratitude is the rarest of all human virtues.
“However, it is least expected that a man supposedly brought up in Islamic philosophy could be so unmindful of the Islamic ethical values of gratitude and moral rectitude in human relationship,” Oyebiyi said.
Oyebiyi declared that it was Alhaji Lai Mohammed and other stakeholders who financed the 2019 general elections in the state.
“Without any fear of contradictions and with available records at our disposal, the credits of our resounding victory at the 2019 general elections should go to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and other stakeholders.
“The Hon. Minister sourced and disbursed funds for election campaign and logistics.
“Alhaji Lai Mohammed did, as a party leader all that was expected and required for a party to win elections.
“Ironically the then gubernatorial candidate, Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who was being assisted contributed nothing to the campaign funds which himself had earlier acknowledged.
“It is also important to mention that the party received no kobo as campaign fund from anybody other Alhaji Lai Mohammed that we relied on, contrary to the Governor’s blackmail.
“All other stakeholders assisted the candidates in their own way and not through the party,” he added.
Oyebiyi therefore wondered why the governor has continued grunting and groaning over what he called a dead.
According to him, the governor was yet to account for N1billion campaign grants he collected from the APC national headquarters.
“Who should now be robed with the garment of dishonesty? He asked.
Reacting to the accusation, Alhaji Tajudeen Aro, the Publicity Secretary of the APC faction loyal to the governor, said it was unfortunate that elderly people like Oyebiyi should throw decorum into the wind while addressing the press.
“It is quite unfortunate that these elderly people in the party, particularly Chief Oyebiyi, I think that he is an elderly person that must allow decorum to prevail when granting press interview.
“That we are playing politics does not mean that we have to drop morality for indecent assault on a leader; that shows the kind of people they are,” he added.
Aro said the governor was not accountable to any group of people, but to the people of Kwara.
“During the election, I know what they did to sabotage the effort of the governor in winning the election and that was the cause of our disagreement with them.
“I don’t have any serious relationship with the governor then. The step they were taking then was counter to the wish of the people of Kwara,” he said.
Aro dismissed all the issues raised by Oyebiyi and his group as rantings on mundane issues.
