Date: 2018-10-08

SOME political groups in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, Kwara Elders Unity Forum (KEUF) and Kwara Rescue Movement, have accused national secretariat of the party of allegedly anointing one of the cleared eight governorship aspirants in the yet to be concluded governorship primaries in the state.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Saturday, state Coordinator of KEUF, Dr Saliu Ajia, said that the groups would be forced to defect to another party if their fears were confirmed.

KEUF is being led by former governor of the state, Chief Cornelius Adebayo.

Members of the groups, who claimed that the state had been in bondage in the last 40 years, said that the claim informed their decision to pitch tent with the APC.

They, however, alleged that the happenings at the yet-to-be-concluded governorship primary in the state had given them reasons to worry.

"The press conference is called to address key issues affecting not only the politics of this state but our country at large. It is my belief that democracy is in danger. In a situation where a congress will be called and some people will be given special consideration above all other aspirants. What is going on in Kwara state today is a charade.

Under All Progressives Congress (APC), a party some of us have been working for, and people have taken the laws into their hands, they have decided to anoint a particular aspirant who seems to be the least qualified of all the aspirants.

"We are not for sale in this state. We have been under bondage for close to 40 years. We are trying to break out of this bondage and some people are hell bent in Abuja to keep us there. We are shouting now that this kind of injustice must not be allowed otherwise there will be anarchy in this state. We have about 193 wards in this state, this very simple exercise to choose a candidate from a pack of 12 has become a herculean task. That shows we are not ready for democracy and the whole world will leave us behind if we turn every election period into a chaos. We are out to redress the situation, that why we have invited the media to hear our own point of view.

"Out of the 12 governorship aspirants for APC in the state and one of them is reported to be favoured by the APC headquarters. That one aspirant is Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. He is a man we have never seen in public. He is more of a businessman than a politician and there is no way in a free and fair democratic setting that such a man can walk in to occupy the highest position in the state.

"He is heavily loaded financially. We are not for sale. Nobody will buy our votes from us. And we are not going to keep quiet. If they go ahead to execute that charade, we will go to another party and make our presence felt; we have electorate behind us. We are saying let the exercise be free and fair and the result will be acceptable to everybody.

"The one they started yesterday spilled over till today. Why will they hold an election that will last for three consecutive days? In our own organisations which I represent, we recommend only two of them and we are asking the electorate to settle for either Akeem Lawal or Lukman Mustapha.

"The truth of the matter is that one of the aspirants stepped down yesterday and others are being pressurized to step down. That is an indication that something untoward is happening. We don't have to die before we go to the doctor for cure. Each one of us must be ready to accept the fact that this exercise is being doctored somewhere

"From available information, it is from the national secretariat of the party. They have appointed a panel to come and conduct the exercise and the panel has been given specific instruction to declare Abdulrahman Abdulrazak as the candidate", he said.