The alleged move to hijack the party's governorship ticket from the 2011 governorship candidate, Dele Belgore, SAN, and give same to the party's national publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has  brought  internal wrangling to the Kwara ACN.

The matter has factionalised the party and is now threatening to emasculate and weaken it as an alternative platform in Kwara state.

 Both camps- Belgore's and Mohammed's- deny the existence of such friction, describing it as a figment of the imagination of those peddling it and accusing their rivals in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being behind the rumour to destabilise the opposition. The lid was eventually lifted exposing the intrigues, schemings and clandestine machinations that have been kept under wrap for weeks.

Several reports indicated that Lai Mohammed has his interest in the coveted governorship seat having contested on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) ticket in 2003, while Belgore insists that he remains the governorship candidate of the party having made significant penetration in the 2011 election.      

The matter further resurfaced  as a result of the bid by opposition parties in the state including the ACN, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) dotted all I's and crossed all T's to fuse to one in line with the merger arrangement to give birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Shortly after a joint press conference addressed by the three parties to announce their fusion into APC, a group of ACN stakeholders loyal to Belgore under the auspices of ACN stakeholders' forum had circulated  a statement where it made case for Belgore as the governorship candidate of the yet to be formed APC. The group headed by Dr. Saad Omoiya who was Belgore's campaign Director-General argued that Belgore deserves the ticket for placing second in the 2011 election. This position apparently riled the other parties in the merger which swiftly issued a joint statement to the effect that all parties in the arrangement are equal and they would not accept to play second fiddle in the mega party.

To douse the raging tension, the ACN chairman, Kayode Olawepo disowned the group in a statement, saying the party has no preferred candidate. Olawepo said the so-called ‘stakeholders forum' is a group of non-conformists, confused and desperate politicians seeking relevance and defending the sole gubernatorial interest of a former candidate of the party.

"This is to state for the umpteenth time that there is no crisis in Kwara ACN, there are no factions in the party but the existence of a dissident group that is seeking relevance and working for the sole interest of a former candidate of the party", he added.

As if that was not enough, the Belgore's camp went ahead to announce that Olawepo's executive had been dissolved while a caretaker committee headed by one Toyin Ayinla had been constituted to run the affairs of the party. Olawepo however nullified the purported dissolution, saying only the national executive of the party was constitutionally empowered to sack a state executive.

The discordant tunes in the ACN, a strategic partner in the merger, have been a source of concern to other opposition figures and political pundits who see the development in the party as capable of erecting a wall in the opposition's strive to dislodge the ruling PDP.

CPC chairman in the state, Sulaiman Buhari, in an interview with Daily Trust described the development in ACN as unfortunate but added that it would not blight the hope of the opposition to unseat the ruling party in future elections.

In a bold move to address the lingering internal crisis threatening to run down the party, the national secretariat of the party penultimate week announced the constitution of a caretaker committee to take over the affairs of the party from Olawepo-led committee.

Under the new arrangement, Sola Iji, a chieftain of the party from Ondo state was made to serve as chairman. According to the letter addressed to Iji by the National Secretary of the ACN, Lawal Shuaibu, six members of the Kwara ACN would serve as members of the committee. The committee was mandated to reconcile all the warring factions within the party ahead of merger with other parties.

Other members of the committee are Prince Shuaib Olanrewaju, Alhaji Abdulraheem Akorede, Alhaji Samari Abdullahi, Issa Umar, Dr. Saad Omoiya and Reverend Bunmi Olusona. The national leadership charged the committee to work towards eliminating all forms of factionalisation within the party and ensure a seamless transition into the merger process with other parties.

Analysts say internal crisis in the state ACN, if not nipped in the bud, could cast doom on the planned merger especially when the opposition parties have boasted of winning at least 12 local governments in the forthcoming Local Government election.

But the ruling party made a mockery of the caretaker committee, saying the fact that the chairman was chosen from Ondo state showed that the party has lost grip of the reality of Kwara politics. The committee, the party said, could not save the ACN from sinking.

A statement by the PDP state secretary, Prince Yemi Afolayan said ACN's lack of internal democracy and its leaders' battle for supremacy ahead of the 2015 elections indicate that the party is unlikely to recover from the strife that has torn it apart. According to him, the fact that the new leadership of the party is headed by some one from outside Kwara State indicates that Kwara ACN is beyond recovery as the committee is out of touch with Kwara politics.

"In the PDP, we practice politics of consensus but the ACN is known for autocracy under which candidates are anointed by the leadership in Lagos and imposed on state chapters, disregarding their choices. This is responsible for the exodus of ACN members to the PDP. So the ACN is doomed."

Reacting to the PDP's statement in a chat, a member of the committee, Dr. Omoiya said contraray to the PDP's thinking, the party is effective and waxing stronger in the state, while accusing the ruling party of sponsoring moles to destablilize the party. He added that the party would fail woefully in this orchestration.

He maintained that the opposition parties would shock the PDP in the forthcoming election, saying, "We must understand that PDP as a party and its government don't have any essence. By the grace of God, they will meet us intact".

However, the former caretaker committee chairman, Olawepo, told our correspondent that the appointment of a new caretaker committee had not "diminished anything", adding, "And don't forget that the man is from Ondo state. A vacuum is already created and somebody has to fill that vacuum".

How far can the reconciliation go in mending the cracking walls of the party in the state and making the planned merger with other opposition parties a seamless one? This is still within the realm of conjecture.