July 08, (THEWILL) – Some elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State on Thursday demanded the removal of Alhaji Lai Mohammed as a Minister from the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
They equally called for his immediate suspension as a member of APC.
Addressing a news conference in Ilorin, the state capital, on behalf of members of APC Elders Caucus, Prince Sunday Fagbemi said Mohammed was no longer fit to represent the people of Kwara State in the Federal cabinet.
Flanked by prominent APC stalwarts in the state, including Barr. Kunle Sulaiman, Chief Wole Oke, Alh Abubakar Ndakene and Chief Simon Ajibola, Fagbemi accused the Minister of deliberately factionalising the ruling party in the state.
He argued that the unveiling, last Saturday, of a new APC secretariat in Ilorin by Mohammed and his endorsement of Alh Bashiru Bolarinwa as a factional Chairman of the party amounted to deliberate factionalisation of the party.
He further accused the Minister of a plan to divide the party along the defunct Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) and the defunct Congress For Progressive Change (CPC) lines.
While pointing out that it was the same people that recently formed the Kwara Third Force that attended the unveiling of the APC’s factional secretariat, the elders’ spokesman said: “The question to be asked is whether the new secretariat is for their new party called Third Force or for APC?
“It’s clear to those of us who are politicians and who understand the dynamics of Kwara politics that majority of those who attended the unveiling ceremony of Alh Lai’s secretariat are members of his erstwhile campaign organisation- Lai Mohammed Campaign Organisation ( LAMCO) to whom he distributed all the cars and motorcycles belonging to APC in the 2019 general elections.
“The enstranged relationship between him and the Governor , who by the party’s constitution, is the leader of the party, is most uncalled for. His continuing encouragement and support for factionalisation of the party is divisive and disruptive to the party. It is anti- party. He cannot contest the leadership of the party with the governor.
“We therefore call for the immediate suspension of Alh Lai Mohammed as a member of the APC in Kwara State for his actions. We also call for his removal as a minister from the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari for he is no longer fit to represent the interest of people of Kwara State.”
