There are indications that the Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed’s long run as a key political figure in Kwara State in this dispensation may be coming to an end. Mohammed was one of the leaders of the political struggle code named ‘Otoge’ which decimated the famous Saraki political dynasty after decades of grip on the state’s politics.
However, his desperation to launch himself as the emerging godfather of the state is tearing the platform, which brought him to limelight apart and crippling ‘Otoge’ as a movement. Analysts say his unveiling of a parallel office of the party recently is a killer move against all efforts to build peace and reconcile feuding parties. And interestingly, his party, the APC, is not treating the effrontery with kids’ gloves.
Already, the APC Caretaker Committee (SCC) Chairman in the state, Alhaji Abdullahi Samari Abubakar, has warned that it would wield the big stick if the minister continued to indulge in acts that threatened the party’s unity in the state.
Also, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and the SCC separately wrote to the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party to intimate it about the minister’s activities, which they said could immensely hurt the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Party sources said the Buni committee was not happy and had already summoned the minister to answer questions over the matter.
The SCC chairman confirmed to our reporter that his committee had to do the needful by writing to the national secretariat.
He said, “We are waiting for the national secretariat to take necessary action, and from our interactions with them, they are angry with him.”
Although CECPC’s Secretary, John James Akpanudoedehe, did not respond to the messages and calls sent to him by our reporter seeking to know the party’s position on the matter, media reports suggest that the party confirmed that the committee had invited the minister over the matter.
The secretary was quoted as saying, “The minister is an elder and we shall accord him much respect and the party will not allow anything to put him to disrepute. The party on the other hand will not allow anybody to violate its constitution.”
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that the minister had unveiled a parallel office for the faction loyal to him at the GRA in Ilorin on July 4, 2021, thereby further deepening the crack within the party in the state.
During the unveiling of the secretariat, the minister told supporters that the national secretariat would soon organise a fresh registration/revalidation of members in the state, noting that the recently concluded registration exercise in the state was not genuine in that it did not capture every member of the party.
Mohammed also drew the ire of the party’s stakeholders in the state recently when he claimed to have funded the party’s electioneering campaigns which produced the present crop of political office holders.
He claimed to have spent N150 million purported to have been contributed by his friends and associates to ensure the party’s success during the 2019 general elections.
However, many of the political office holders have come out to say the minister lied; challenging him to be more specific by mentioning names.
Stakeholders such as the National Assembly and House of Assembly members in the state said Mohammed was nowhere to be seen during the critical period of the campaigns when funds were required.
They claimed that Governor AbdulRazaq ensured that there were no hitches during the electioneering campaigns.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu, said, “Lai Mohammed did not give any support in any form to members of the 9th legislature during the campaigns and elections. If he did, he should name who and what he gave out. Could the minister be mixing things up on account of his old age?”
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE recalls that the crisis in the party in the state reached a climax in January with the removal of Bashir Bolarinwa as the SCC chairman. Bolariwa, a loyalist of the minister, was removed by the Buni committee and replaced by Abubakar. The development broke the party into two factions and pitched the governor against the minister as they struggled for control of its structure.
On February 8, there was a free-for-all fight at the Banquet Hall of the Government House where a meeting was being held ahead of the party’s membership registration exercise. The party’s national registration and revalidation committee had called the meeting to ensure a smooth exercise, but it was disrupted by supporters of both camps who hauled chairs and other objects during the melee.
A former senator from the state, Suleiman Ajadi, accused the minister of being behind the disruption, alleging that the minister was fighting to foist himself as the godfather of the party in the state.
Senator Ajadi said, “The crisis in the party is because Alhaji Lai Mohammed is claiming to be the leader of the party in Kwara State. Take it that when we have no governor, the minister could be the party leader for the state, but when we now have a substantive governor, how can you be claiming to be the party leader and trying to give orders; telling the governor where he should go and where he should not go?”
However, when the exercise eventually held on February 9, some of the SCC members rejected the process; describing it a sham.
The Vice Chairman of the SCC, Sunday Oyebiyi, who spoke on behalf of other members, said the executives were not carried along in the events leading to the exercise, even as he alleged that the process was fraught with irregularities.
The minister himself expressed dissatisfaction with the exercise; alleging hoarding of registration materials, while calling for the cancellation and a revisit of the exercise.
Following the protest that trailed the exercise, Kwara is among the troubled states the APC has decided to continue the membership registration and revalidation. The CECPC Secretary, Akpanuudoedehe, on Tuesday, mentioned Kwara, Imo, Ogun and Rivers as other states the exercise recorded setbacks due to infighting among heavyweights.
However, whether the exercise will address the discontent in Kwara state remains to be seen.
The minister’s media aide, Joe Muta and the former caretaker chairman, Bolarinwa did not respond to the messages and calls by our reporters seeking their comments on the issues raised.
