Lai Mohammed vs Governor AbdulRazaq: Leadership tussle brews in Kwara APC
Posted by News Express | 18 November 2019 | 3,450 times
•Photo shows Lai Mohammed
Who is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state? This is one question that has pitched supporters of Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture and the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq against one another, a situation many believe may not augur well for the party as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is already waiting in the wings to benefit from the crisis.
Though the gladiators have been trying to keep the issue from public glare, some party members who believed the situation may affect the party’s chances and governance in the state have been speaking out, calling for the intervention of the national leadership of the party.
Prior to the 2019 general election, Lai Mohammed, by virtue of his position as Minister was regarded as the undisputed leader of the APC in Kwara state.
He was also given the recognition based on the fact that he had been a member of the APC since the days of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD), under whose platform he contested the 2003 governorship election in Kwara state. He lost the election to Bukola Saraki who ran under the PDP platform.
AD later became the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the parties that coalesced to form APC.
Stakeholders who are queuing behind Lai Mohammed also argued that he has been the sole financier of the party in the state and stood against the then ruling party in the state and its leader.
He also spearheaded the ‘Otoge’ movement which ended the Saraki dynasty in the state. Under his leadership, aside winning the governorship election, candidates of the APC in Kwara won all the three Senatorial seats, all six House of Representatives seats in the state and cleared all 24 House of assembly seats.
However, shortly after he was sworn-in, our correspondent gathered that Governor Abdulrazak decided to assume the leadership position of the state, claiming he is the new leader of the party in the state based on his position as the governor.
(Independent)
Source: News Express
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