Date: 2014-12-05

With barely 72 hours to the conduct of governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, the desperate struggle for the soul of the  party among gladiators in the party took another bloody dimension with the violent attack on Professor Oba AbdulRaheem’s aide at the weekend.

The intra-party war which led to the attack on Moshood  Alaka Senior Special Assistant to Professor Oba on Political Matters followed the on-going disagreements among the party’s gladiators on the issue of doctored delegates list in the last state assembly primary.

Moshood Alaka, who was beaten black and blue, was assaulted by political thugs believed to be in the camp of an Abuja-based business woman and Minister of National Planning.

Although, Alaka could not be reached on his cell phone yesterday as it was switched-off, sources alleged that the victim was severally punched by the suspected thugs for daring to enter a secret venue where the State Assembly primary election for Ilorin West was being conducted.

Alaka, in a message on his facebook wall, said the attack on him showed the desperation of the Abuja based business tycoon and her stooges in the desperate bid to hijack the cause of freedom being championed by chieftains and consign the people.

The message partly read, “While we are agitating for freedom, we know there are a lot of enemies within and outside the camp that will like to disrupt the goodwill of the people. I personally know I have to pay some prices just as late Nelson Mandela of blessed memory and other freedom fighters in the world do.

“It is no more a news that I was attacked by the henchmen of Muinah Shagaya, Oba Ajara and the puppet Minister of National Planning. This is nothing but clear indication of how desperate Muinah Shagaya and her stooges are to hijack the fight.”

The Herald, exclusively reported that the election for Ilorin North West Constituency was officially scheduled for Yebumot Hotel on Abubakar Olusola Saraki’s Drive, but with the resistance of some youths who believed that the delegates list might have been manipulated, the venue was relocated to a private guest house belonging to a chieftain of the party, Alhaji Oba Ajara.

The Minister of National Planning allegedly conspired with some PDP stalwarts to change the venue of the election in order to rig for their preferred aspirant, which consequently resulted in a wild protest with some aggrieved delegates and suspected thugs attempting to mob the Minister, but escaped by the whiskers.

Investigations showed that apart from Ilorin West election, which was inconclusive, other 15 local government areas had  successful primaries.

It was learnt that some chieftains of the party from the crisis-ridden Ilorin West, who believed in democratic way of choosing a candidate for the governorship primary, insisted that it would be ethically and politically wrong for Hajia Muinat Bola Shagaya, to impose a candidate on the party using her influence with the President’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan.

Speaking on the development yesterday, a one-time Chairman of Ilorin branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Barrister Salman Jawondo, descended heavily on the duo of Planning Minister and Hajia Shagaya in their alleged bid to subvert the will of the people.

He said the two politicians, who were expected to be neutral had become blindly partisan.

He told The Herald that with the pandemonium that trailed last Saturday’s primary allegedly perpetrated by the Minister, he had desecrated the office and was not fit to remain on the seat.

Jawondo said, “These are two people who are supposed to be neutral but they are blindly partisan. And unfortunately to compound their problem, the two of them don’t have political base within the party, state and even among the electorate. But they want to lord it over because of their peculiar positions. That is the grouse.

“The PDP crisis has been on even before the April primary that led to the emergence of our State executive. They could not hold a successful congress. So they had factions, although still working together as a party because of some gladiators who are interested in the governorship slot and some other supporters. That remained the situation.

“The day congresses were held to elect delegates, we have twelve wards in Ilorin West, only six wards were able to hold their congresses. The other six were inconclusive. That is the report.

“So it means instead of having 36 elected delegates, they succeeded in electing 17 because in one of the six wards where the congresses were held, only two delegates were elected. That is Alanamu ward.

“Then surprisingly and in an apparent criminality a list emerged where all the wards were claimed to have held congresses and elected delegates. And even those who were elected in the six wards where the congresses were held, had their names removed and replaced by names submitted which now turned out to be the names manufactured by the Minister and the so called oil magnate. That is the genesis.”

Reacting to the allegation, Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Alhaji Abdulrauf Abdulrahaman, dismissed it as baseless, saying his principal was not ready to join issues with anybody, just as he added that his boss would not stoop so low in organizing thugs to attack innocent citizens.