From the very beginning, the rainbow coalition that forged an alliance in the O to Ge movement were quite aware of their differences in political orientation, beliefs and directions. In their aggregation, they adopted the word ‘four tendencies’ to imply the individuality of the groups that fused into Kwara APC and eventually kicked the Sarakis out of political reckoning in the state. Today, the factions are on each other’s throat in a fight to the finish battle. Could this be the death knell for O to Ge movement?
Gbolahan Balogun
Everything happened in frenetic pace. First, it was a press conference called at the instance of Kunle Sulyman/Ayo Fagbemi-led faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Kwara State. Although the organisers said the conference was to address what it called “vicious attacks and blackmails from certain individuals”, the motley crowd of supporters that thronged the Kwara Hotel venue of the event was enough to determine that a war was afoot. Reporters were told they came from all the 16 local government areas of the state that morning as representatives of the people, to stand with the Governor and to give their support to his administration because he has made them the focus of governance.
Prince Ayo Sunday Fagbemi, the leader of the faction addressed the press. He hurled epithets on some key members of the factional sides of the party as he reeled out their transgressions on the party, the Governor and his administration. First, he told the press how some chieftains within the party had mounted a campaign of calumny immediately the Governor came into the saddle, that no matter his ‘Sterling performance’ he was never going to have a second term. He then took on some of the personalities. Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, his erstwhile friend received the first blow. He narrated that Oyedepo’s anger stemmed from the fact that he could not achieve a personal ambition within the government. Said him: “Akogun Oyedepo lobbied to be made the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in order to use same as a platform to clinch the prestigious rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). While this is not a crime, we feel anyone who wishes to be so honoured ought to show support for the Governor as a party person”
Other chieftains of the party outside their faction received varied tongue lash for what he called their “insurrection” and “de-marketing” campaign against the Governor. He explained: “Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa and other party chieftains never disguised their dislike for the Governor and his administration for reasons totally unconnected to development of the state. Contrary to decency and party rules, they go on radio to openly condemn the government of their own party.
An inkling to the pending coup came at the end of the Fagbemi’s speech when this medium asked if there was room for a reconciliation of the warring factions. This was when Kunle Sulyman took the mike. He explained that indeed there would be a reconciliation but not in the mode of people’s expectation. According to him, “There is always room for reconciliation, particularly for a political party because if you fail to reconcile you are heading towards a political disaster. But to us, the solution is by the corner. The present Caretaker Exco has been given a six month tenure by the National headquarters after which we will have the ward, local government and state congresses. That is the only democratic way to solve this type of problem that has become disheartening to us”
But, he indeed, a solution was by the corner, though not democratically as he said but dramatically. Almost six hours after the conference, news filtered in that Hon Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa has been removed as the chairman of the state Caretaker Committee and replaced with his deputy, Hon. Abdullahi Samari Abubakar. Sources said while the press conference was on, Samari was already in Abuja to receive his letter of appointment to replace BOB, who has been in the eyes of the storm for some time. When the letter eventually surfaced online at the close of the day, it dated 4 January 2021 and signed by Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, National Secretary, Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee. It reads in part: “be notified that following the allegations against the erstwhile Chairman of our party in Kwara State and his purported suspension by his erstwhile executives, the National Chairman Caretaker/ Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has directed that I convey to you, the approval of the CECPC of your appointment as the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of our party in Kwara State, pending the outcome of investigations into the matter” The further said that he would superintend over the affairs of the party in the state forthwith.
While some prominent leaders of the APC initially described the purported removal of Bolarinwa as a baseless rumour, insisting that it was “in the imagination of the peddlers, who are hell-bent on hijacking the party’s structure through the back door”, it eventually dawned on them that the rug had indeed been pulled off their feet. Such personalities as Prof. Oba Abdulraheem, Alh. L.A.K Jimoh, Chief Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, Mal. Lukman Mustapha, Alh. Isiaka Alao, Chief Sunday Oyebiyi, Alh. S.Y Abdullahi, Alh. Taju Audu, Alh. Abubakar Manko, Amb. Mohammed Bello, Alh. Hakeem Oladimeji Lawal, Mal. Saliu Mustapha, Waziri Yakubu Gobir, who all appended their signatures on behalf of others, to a press statement to denounce the removal, took their fight to the national headquarters of the party in Abuja Wednesday, January 13, to salvage the situation and appeal to the conscience of the party’s national leaders on what they called “imminent destruction and journey to political perdition” that may befall the party in the state.
Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, at the head of a group named Critical Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara, addressed a press conference where they laid their grouse against Governor Abdulrazaq, accusing him of running a solo government after winning election, saying that he had not been humble with power. They also accused the Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of instigating crisis in the Kwara APC chapter over its decision to remove the state party chairman, Bashir.
“We have resolved to reject the verdict of the National Caretaker Committee on the purported removal of Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa.
Oyedepo added that the state critical stakeholders fought the war to ensure that Abdulrazaq became the Kwara governor.
He further added that if:” they were able to bring down an Iroko tree, it will not take them anything to bring down its shrub”.
It became obvious that the battleground had been shifted to Abuja when Abdulrazaq’s men stormed the party headquarters the following day in support of the party’s decision to remove BOB and his replacement with Alhaji Abdullahi Samari as the Acting state Chairman of the party.
"This indeed is a lifesaving decision for the party that had been in the vice grip of power drunk and self-conceited individuals whose only loyalists are garrulous and selfish few whose only anger with the Governor is that he did not make himself a yes-man or stooge through whom the public vault is thrown open, they stated.
The group’s statement was read by Nigeria's immediate-past ambassador to Malaysia, Amb. Nurudeen Muhammed, who was flanked on all sides by the Kwara APC Elders Forum, Barr. Kunle Suleiman, Sen. Suleiman Makanjuola Ajadi, Gen. Tunde Bello (retd), Sen. Muhammed Ahmed, Chief JB Ayeni (Chairman APC Elders Forum in Kwara South), Alhaji Alabi Ilyasu, Chief Wole Oke, Hon. Ayinla Folorunsho, Alhaji Abubakar Ndakene, Hon. Mumuni Katugi, Gen. Ibrahim Bola Kale Agbabiaka and Alhaji Hameed Adio.
They gave detailed report of their adversaries’ transgressions: "It is on record that these gangs dedicated a weekly programme to denigrate the Governor, his administration, and the House of Assembly. They never missed any opportunity to denigrate the office of the Governor. Certainly, no system, much less an organised political party, can survive the level of indiscipline, arrogance and unbridled ambitions of these lousy few.
“The intervention of the national headquarters of the party is therefore timely and necessary to save the party from these oppressive, self-centred gang.
"Contrary to their claims, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa was rightly removed as chairman of the party for his many anti-party conducts which include but are not limited to:
"Open condemnation and denigration of the achievements of the APC government for his own selfish objectives.
"Using the radio and social media platforms to launch attacks on the person of the Governor and members of the State Assembly without any provocation.
"There is no love lost between him and majority of the state executive council members who he never consulted; His refusal to accept the leadership status of the Governor and his utter disrespect for the office of Governor in his language and conduct.
"It has become a norm for Hon. Bolarinwa and his co-travellers to organise thugs and miscreants to disrupt programmes.
"The actions, utterances and general behaviour of these few party chieftains against the governor and his administration are motivated by superciliousness, personal aggrandisement and their desire to ensure the failure of the Governor and his administration", they stated.
"He became the major opposition to the government elected on the platform of his own party without any just cause.
"Against these backdrops, we fully support the decision of the party to remove Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa as his continuous leadership of the party was a disaster waiting to happen. We align ourselves with his replacement with a rather cool-headed, committed and mature party chieftain Alhaji Abdullahi Samari who we are sure can better unify the party.
The group further slated key personalities of the opposition group, who they described as “paperweight politicians with no electoral value” Sen. Ajadi specifically took on the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Minister of State, Transportation, Sen. Gbemi Saraki: 'Ministers are not elected officials. President Muhammadu Buhari picked them not based on their capability to win elections. If you check the pedigree of the two ministers you will understand what I am saying that they do not have the capacity to win elections"
How did O to ge Movement get into this inglorious state?
But at a time when Kwarans are beginning to count the gains of O to ge, when the governor appears to be redefining the governance model in the state with considerable positive changes across all sectors, it is ironic that his populism appears to be ostracising notable personalities in the O to ge movement the more, with strident dissent from aggrieved members of the O to ge foot soldiers
Analysts believe that the death of the movement was an event waiting to happen. They cited the fact that the group was made up of incongruous politicians, and of different hues and shades with an immediate purpose of fighting a common enemy while still holding on to their different ambitions.
Investigation by Midland Post indicated that the governor may have built his own political structure ahead of an imminent faceoff with his former political benefactors. It was learnt that the governor purposely created his AA Group, a supposed grassroots-based political outfit with presence in the 16 local governments, much to the chagrin of party leaders in the state for this purpose.
The formation of this new foot soldiers, it was learnt, polarized the party the more, to the extent that a group, Kwara State APC Integrity Vanguard, apparently ventilating the position of the aggrieved in the party, had petitioned the then National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, over its grouse with the governor.
The group, in its petition signed by Alhaji Abdullahi Yinka Onimasa, National Coordinator, and Comrade Kayode Aliyu Bamidele, Secretary-General, accused the governor of usurping the party’s structures.
The angry petitioners, who had copied President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, lamented what it termed “the disgusting development in Kwara State APC."
At the inception of the crisis, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, in an interview with this medium explained that the genesis of the crisis is “long and deep” and offered explanations on various interventions that had come to naught.
But Chief Wole Oke, another veteran of the liberation movement and Second Republic leader in the State House of Assembly, who presently pitched camp with the governor believes the current crisis was created by the void in political leadership after the exit of the Saraki dynasty.
“We were simply members of the same political ideology. We believed that our common political enemy was Saraki’s dynasty.
"We had no leader as it were. We were just fighting the common ‘foe’ according to our capabilities.
“So when the victory was won, we lacked direction. Each member saw himself as a victor, having fought from his own angle. For instance, how would I call the honourable Minister (Lai Mohammed) my political leader?
"I had been in the forays of political struggles for almost three decades now! I think, this is where the problem emanated from," he said in an interview.
Chief Rex Olawoye, a veteran grassroots politician who was among those who fought the battle of the airwaves against the previous administration, expressed worry over the new direction of the party.
“Definitely we need some intervention from our elders outside Kwara to bring the aggrieved groups together. They should be able to call a spade a spade,” he told a national daily.
What is certain is that the Akogun group, who came up with the parable of the ‘iroko’ and its “shrub” may have underrated the political deftness of the governor, who seems to be in the right camp of the power equation within the APC at the national level.
A member in the governor’s opposing camp, Hon. Saheed Popoola believes that he might have well been favoured by a group who are mounting an orchestrated gang-up against Tinubu. “Over the last few months, a Mafia gang had declared war on Tinubu over his perceived interest in the 2023 presidential election, even though he has not declared his intention to run. What we are seeing is an attempt to dismantle his vestiges within the APC”
He continued: “Don’t forget that the APC membership registration is about to be conducted by the party. The idea now is to install pliable excos and ensure the group would reap a windfall of delegates during presidential primaries”
But it is getting obvious that the simmering crisis in the party has torpedoed whatever remains of the O to ge movement and would need a yeoman job to save the party from itself if it is to retain its hold on power amidst the closing of ranks by the rump of Saraki's disoriented followers.
As we write this, news filtered in that the factional groups in the crisis have been summoned to Abuja in a move to reconcile them. Details coming.
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