The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kwara PDP

  • As people defect in and out, Kwara PDP remains intact, strong

    As people defect in and out, Kwara PDP remains intact, strong

    I read your story titled ‘24 PDP Leaders Defect to APC, ADC as Saraki loses grip in Kwara’ written by Adekunke Jimoh. It is a surprise that the same story had earlier been published word for word in the Phoenix online platform under the byline of  Adebiyi Abolaji. We can take it that both names represent the same writer or that plagiarism is at play. Anyway,  I believe the real writer, whatever his real name is, has exaggerated the small fact that he got to create a salacious piece.

    For us in PDP, not only in Kwara State, but on the national level, we believe this is the transfer season for politics. It is the same way you have a transfer period for professional football across all the countries with a functional league system. Players move from club to club for several reasons. Some were even forced out of their clubs because the clubs need to create space for others, while some go to look for greener pastures in other clubs.

    In the same way in our polity, politicians change parties for several reasons. The majority of those changing parties want to belong to the ruling party. Some others leave because they have calculated that the ticket for the elective offices they are seeking will not be given to them in the party they belong to. So they move to where they can get the tickets. Some others move because they have lost relevance to younger elements and new players in their current party. This group moves elsewhere to seek relevance.

    Now, to the question raised by your article. I don’t know where you got the figure of 24 politicians leaving PDP in Kwara State or how you came about that figure. Indeed, a few individuals who have occupied key elective government offices and secured prominent appointments on the platform of the PDP in Kwara State defected simply because our party is now in opposition, both at the state and federal levels. They have their reasons, and these reasons are not different from the ones I listed in the second paragraph of this write-up. We believe they have simply exercised their fundamental right of freedom of association.

    The question remains: What is the level of acceptance, grassroots popularity, electoral value, and political relevance of these individuals at the time they left the PDP? Some of them remained one of the reasons the PDP lost elections in 2019 and 2023. Some of them personify the mistakes PDP was said to have made while in power between 2003 and 2019. We can also submit that some of them left PDP because the party leadership in Kwara State adopted a new model of recruiting young, vibrant, popular, and brilliant men and women to take up leadership at the wards, Local government areas, and state as a way of rebranding, remodeling, refocusing, and restructuring the party. The party decided that the old players should step into the background. A few of our prominent members went to the APC, where they are now silenced and turned into League B players. Some went to ADC, where they have been struggling for existence and relevance.

    Read Also: Why Nigerians must support Tinubu’s administration, by Minister 

    We have no problem with the few people who left Kwara PDP. We want Mr. Adekunle Jimoh  to check out how many young men and women have since joined the PDP in Kwara State and how these men are mobilising the grassroots in the North, South, and Central Senatorial Districts Jimoh should check why the APC had to resort to wholesome writing of results during the last local government elections when the PDP young elements who were across the 16 LGAs and 193 wards swept the polls That is an example of what will happen during the 2027 polls. Mr. Jimoh should check why no PDP member who defected to APC in Kwara has remained happy or relevant as they were just boxed in and discarded like disused or out of fashion clothes. We need him to give us how many APC leaders have left since 2019. Many are now either in PDP or waiting to join it as the main opposition party in the state.

    Let me quickly dismiss at this point one claim in the write-up under review. The PDP or the Saraki Political Group has never in its activities, either during the over 40 years it controlled the politics of Kwara State or in the last six years that it has been out of power been a one-man show. Never. Decisions are taken by a collegiate leadership that operates at different levels. We have a bottom-to-top system in which decisions begin to evolve from the wards and are passed on to the state level where it is further discussed and endorsed by a group of leaders representing the entire state from across the three senatorial districts. That is the essence of having The Great Hall sessions, a feat many political groups have tried to emulate.

    That system remains till today. That system produced some of the people Mr. Jimoh mentioned as having complained about the system. It gave them the offices that made them ex-this – – ex-that. That system, by the grace of God, will continue to produce new leaders who will provide good governance not only in Kwara State but across the country.

    May God bless Kwara PDP. May God bless Kwara State. May God bless Nigeria.

    Olusola is the State Publicity Secretary

  • Kwara PDP authorised disbursement of campaign funds, says Belgore

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dele Belgore, yesterday told a Federal High Court in Lagos that he never authorised the sharing of N450 million People’s Democratic Party (PDP) campaign fund.

    Belgore, a former PDP campaign coordinator in Kwara State, said the instruction to do so was made in writing by Kwara PDP stakeholders before the 2015 polls.

    The lawyer and a former Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Sulaiman, are standing trial on a money laundering charge preferred by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Belgore concluded his testimony in defence of the charge on April 12, following which the court adjourned for cross-examination.

    At the last adjourned date on May 6, a second defence counsel, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo SAN, concluded his cross-examination of Belgore.

    When trial resumed yesterday, EFCC counsel Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo appeared for the prosecution. Mr. Ebun Shofunde (SAN) appeared for Belgore.

    Read also: Govt, PDP row over ‘threat to democracy’

    Under cross-examination by Oyedepo, the defendant told the court that the stakeholders also authorised the formula for the disbursement.

    According to him, the decision to disburse the campaign funds and the list of recipients was made at a meeting of the state’s PDP stakeholders.

    He explained that he did not give any written instructions to share the money to the stakeholders, contending that the instructions came from his party.

    He said he did not have a copy of that instruction.

    The defendant denied that N80 million was apportioned to the campaign coordinator or his office, contending that funds allocated were on the stakeholders’ instructions.

    Belgore said the stakeholders’ meeting was to allocate funds to local governments and their chairmen and that the funds were to be given to the chairmen and representatives.

    The former minister added that he was not aware if it was changed.

    He confirmed that at the stakeholders’ meeting, people were nominated to collect monies, but denied knowledge about collection of the said monies as he was not there.

    Justice Rilwan Aikawa adjourned till June 17 for continuation of cross-examination by the prosecution.

    In the nine-count charge, the EFCC alleged that a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, conspired with Belgore and Sulaiman on or about March 27, 2015, to directly take possession of the N450 million, which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of proceeds of an unlawful act.

    They were also alleged to have taken the said funds in cash, which exceeded the amount authorised by law, without going through the financial institutions.

  • Kwara PDP in turmoil over rising anti-Saraki sentiment

    The ripples generated by the defections in the National Assembly continued yesterday across the country. Onyedi Ojiabor (Abuja) and Adekunle Jimoh (Ilorin) report.

    Loyalists and supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday staged peaceful rallies in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital drumming support for the re-election of the president in 2019.

    The procession began at about 10am in front of the state stadium complex. The protesters marched through Unity Road, Ibrahim Taiwo Road and the Post Office area.

    Motorcycle riders, artisans and students joined the protest.

    They urged Senate President Bukola Saraki to publicly declare which political party he belongs and also called for his resignation as the Senate President.

    Addressing reporters, the spokesperson of the group, George Towoju, said: ”The defection of some members of the National Assembly from the All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the desperate attempts of Senator Saraki and his co-travelers to continue to embark on undeserving political negotiations and mortgaging the genuine interest of the masses for their personal and individual gains.

    “Having found their political bargains as unwarranted, frivolous, condemnable, barbaric and uncharitable to the overall interest of the entire Nigerian population, it is the resolution of this great movement to pass votes of no confidence in the National Assembly under the leadership of Senate President Bukola Saraki for their ill-political characters capable of initiating political disunity and derailing the executive arms of government from implementing masses oriented policies/programmes.

    ”We hereby call on Dr. Bukola Saraki to make his political party membership known to Nigerians and resign his appointment as the Senate President with immediate effect in order to allow for better legislative process in the interest of the masses.”

    He urged Saraki “to desist from politics of deceit and assassination of characters of constituted authorities in pursuant of cheap publicity, undeserving empathy from members of the public and international community as well as personal political gains”.

    Towoju hailed President Buhari for his total commitment to the values of democracy, freedom of choice as well as total willingness to work with all members of the National Assembly, irrespective of their political party, for the benefit of the nation..

    He said “We also declare our total support to President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid and we call on men and women of goodwill and conscience to rally round Mr. President in order to salvage the nation from the current political turbulence and always stand by the oppressed so that we can together build a virile and prosperous Nigeria.”

     

    Minister urges calm in Kwara APC

     

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday thanked APC members and supporters in Kwara for their unflinching support to the party despite gale of defection in the National Assembly.

    In a statement, the minister expressed gratitude to the party members and those from other parties for their solidarity for President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “That commitment has been reflected in the overwhelming support and solidarity that we have received, not just from our party members but also from other parties and stakeholders across the state since the melodrama at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

    “In particular, there has been an expression of overwhelming love and support for Buhari from across Kwara in the wake of the defections by federal legislators from Kwara.

    “I call on all our members and supporters in Kwara to remain calm, because there is no cause for alarm.

    “We are presently consulting with the national leadership of our great party, with a view to coming up with a programme of action that will take into consideration the recent developments,’’ he said.

    Mohammed assured the members and supporters that whatever decision taken after the consultations would be in their overall best interest.

    Some senators and House of Representatives members had on Tuesday announced their defection from APC to other political parties.

     

    I cannot work with Saraki,

    says PDP chair

     

    The Kwara State chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, yesterday said he cannot work with the incoming defectors from APC led by Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    Two senators, Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North) and Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara South) as well as the six members of the House of Representatives from the state were among federal legislators who defected on Tuesday from the APC.  Saraki and Governor AbdulFattah Ahmed are expected to announce their  defection soon.

    But Oyedepo, who spoke on the development on a radio programme in Ilorin, the state capital, said the national leadership of the PDP set up a committee to interface between his group and the defectors. The first meeting is slated for next week, he said.

    The PDP chairman, who said he had just returned from a meeting with PDP leaders in Abuja, blamed the party’s national leadership for being allegedly insensitive to the political configuration in Kwara State and allowing themselves to be swayed by funding capacity of the defectors. To him, the option now before the leaders is to choose between his group and the Saraki’s.

    He said:  “We have not sat down with the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the state governor, Alhaji AbdulFattah Ahmed, even though I’m hearing several rumours that I have met with them and that they have offered me juicy positions. Those are all lies; the Senate President despite his humongous wealth, does not yet have what it takes to buy me. He cannot ever buy me because he cannot buy my integrity. If my bank account is not fat, my integrity account is very fat.

    “So they have not met with us but our national body said they have set up a committee to meet with the two sides next week and when that meeting comes up, we are going to tell the national body  that we cannot accept the formula they have put down which is 60:40, 60 percent for a state defecting with the governor and 40 percent for the existing PDP members. And if they said what of 50:50, or 40:60 or 30:70 or even 10:90, we shall not accept; we cannot accept any offer. Anything less than our not working together we cannot accept.

    “So, we will tell our national body to choose between us and them and I know that they will not choose us because we don’t have money but we are not worried. We will only know that an end has come to our journey and our relationship (in the PDP).

    “If we agree to work with them (Saraki), just imagine myself and (Governor AbdulFattah Ahmed) Maigida standing on the same rostrum, pledging to do things for the people. It will be a shame; many people will look at me and wonder what has happened. So, it is better not to be in politics again. Instead of a dog being the treasurer for the lion, it is better for both to part ways and go on their separate hunting game.

    “The blame is not from the Saraki camp; the blame is from our national leaders (in the PDP). Leadership in Nigeria is the conspiracy of the elite to punish the downtrodden. When they gave us the party, we inherited nothing and so whatever you see in the PDP today is the product of our efforts. For this alone we should not be interested in defecting from our own house but it is better we do so now and look forward to better future for our dear state.”

     

    Senators attack Adamu

    over defection list

     

    The ripple of Tuesday’s defection of some senators from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be far from over.

    Two senators, Abdullahi Danbaba and Isa Hama Misau, yesterday attacked Senator Abdullahi Adamu over his claim that the defections were fraught with fraud.

    Danbaba (Sokoto South) and Misau (Bauchi central) condemned the statement credited to Adamu in which he allegedly claimed that Senate President  Bukola Saraki, “merely collated the list of Senators he feels are not happy with the APC and announced them as defectors.”

    They said it was unbecoming of Adamu to mislead Nigerians about the defection of senators when he knows the truth.

    The two Senators, in a statement, said: “Adamu thought all Nigerians were dumb by saying names of senators were just announced when in actual fact the concerned senators were individual political leaders in their different constituencies and were present on the floor when their names were read out from a letter signed by all of them.

    “People like Senator Adamu have become agents of instability and division in the Senate. This same Senator, who was genuflecting before Saraki to get a Senate committee chairmanship at the beginning of the Eighth Senate, suddenly made a turn-around to become a lap-dog of the Presidency because he is afraid of his past. It is public knowledge that the axe of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is dangling on him and one of his sons.

    “How possible is it for somebody to just announce the change of party on behalf of a Senator without the legislator concerned giving his consent? We can assure him that more Senators are preparing to leave the sinking ship of APC and Senator Abdullahi Adamu will have more fabrications to do.

    “It is surprising that a man of Adamu’s calibre will say that the only defecting Senators are from Kwara. We wonder if Senators Danbaba (Sokoto), Isa Misau and Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi), Monsurat Sunmonu (Oyo), Barnabas Gemade (Benue), Ubali Shittu (Jigawa), Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna), Usman Nafada (Gombe), Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), Abdulazeez Nyako (Adamawa), and Dino Melaye (Kogi) are also from Kwara State.

    “Senator Adamu is struggling to save his skin but he should at least care about the credibility of the information he is giving out. At his level, he should refrain from circulating fake news.”

     

  • Governorship aspirant calls for unity in Kwara PDP

    A PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Kwara State, Alhaji Mohammed Ajia, has lamented the disunity, internal wrangling and acrimony within the the state chapter of the party.

    Ajia warned that the seemingly irreconcilable differences in the PDP would mar the party’s chances in the next general elections, against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The aspirant made the disclosure in Ilorin yesterday at an event to commemorate Sallah celebration. He said there was no way the party could embark on a war fragmented and expect to defeat the ruling party.

    Ajia challenged party chairmen in the 16 local government areas to reconcile aggrieved members and work with unity of purpose and sense of direction.

    He also called on party faithful to work as a team ahead of the primary elections and ensure that the best candidate emerged to fly the flag of the party at the polls.

    He said: “I urge you all to recognize that the unity of this party is the first thing that can give us victory. For those of you who are enjoying peace in your own local governments, you need to tell others and teach them how you have done it, so that when we have a one party we can face the war. You can’t go to a war with a divided house. This thing is giving me a lot of concern.

    “I think the elders are ready now; they have shown concern that they want this party to be united. So, party chairmen across local governments, the time is now to work together. Let us kick start.

    “From now on, everybody will take a responsibility. Let us be talking on how we can make sure that we have a successful primary election and a united political party to face the problem of the state.

    “The war before us is not a small war, and here again, we are fragmented. So, this is the thing that gives me concern from time to time. Let us go into partnership; let us sign a social contract, so that we can have a new Kwara, where a son of nobody can become somebody, where you don’t need to know somebody before you can buy forms and say you want to represent your people anywhere. This is the Kwara of my dream.

    “A Kwara where a local government chairman can live in his local government headquarters, a Kwara where a commissioner on Friday will be eager to close from work and go back to his local government.

    “It is time for us to tidy up our trousers. We need to put politics aside. We need to identify the potentials in all the individuals that are out.”

     

  • Kwara PDP crisis worsens

    There is no let-up in the crisis engulfing the Peoples Democracy Party ( PDP) in Kwara state.

    A faction of the party on Thursday held a stakeholders meeting in Ilorin, the state capital.

    Fagbemi and four other chieftains of the PDP are in court challenging the election of Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo as the state chairman of the party.

    The Fagbemi group got a major boost last week when the Federal High Court,Ilorin hearing the suit dismissed all the six grounds of preliminary objections raised by Oyedepo and his co – defendants.

    The court held that ” on the whole, I find that the objections of the defendants are only unsustainable and are completely lacking in merit. This preliminary objection therefore fails on all grounds and its hereby dismissed “.

    Read Also: 2019: 2Baba urges youths to get their PVCs

    The presiding Judge, Justice N.I Afolabi further held that” from all facts and documentary evidence placed before the court, it is evident that there is in fact a cause of action established by the alleged irregularly conducted congress and the fact that the second to sixth defendants are alleged to have continued parading themselves as the state executive committee in spite of the decision of the Appeal Panel.

    “It would appear to my mind therefore that there are serious and actionable issues placed before the court by the plaintiffs and same are actionable against the defendants presently before the court. ”

    At the crucial meeting, the stakeholders resolved to use the consensus option in picking the party’s gubernatorial candidate for the next year’s governorship election in the state.

    Stakeholders also resolved to begin the tour of all the 16 local government areas of the state next week to sensitise party members and residents on preparations for the 2019 general elections.

    Senator Suleiman Ajadi, the pioneer chairman of the party in the state, Barr. Kunle Suleiman, a party’s elder, Alh. Ayinla Folorunsho, chairman, Elders Forum,Chief S.A.Adedayo,pioneer national assistant publicity secretary of the party, Chief Henry Olaosebikan, Hon. llyasu Ibrahim, Barr. Moses Ibiyemi and Barr. Ashaolu are some of the prominent personalities that attended the meeting.

    Asides, stakeholders of all the branches of the party in the state were in attendance at a meeting convened by a former chair, Prince Sunday Fagbemi.

    Speaking with reporters after the meeting in Ilorin, Prince Fagbemi said the meeting was summoned to update members on the state of the party regarding its leadership. He said the stakeholders were briefed on the journey so far on the leadership crisis and urged them to remain calm and allow law takes its course.

    The factional leader urged PDP members across the state to start mobilising for votes ahead of 2019 general elections.

    He said the party was prepared to wrest power from the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state

  • You have case to answer, court tells Kwara PDP

    A Federal High Court in Ilorin, Kwara State, has said the Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has a case to answer.

    The Sunday Fagbemi-led faction is challenging the November 13 election, which produced the Oyedepo-led exco.

    But Oyedepo and five defendants, through their counsel, Rasak Alabi, filed six grounds of preliminary objection.

    Fagbemi and four others were represented by Azeez Olagoke.

    But the court dismissed Oyedepo’s preliminary objection.

    In the February 14 notice of preliminary objection, the defendants objected to the competence of the suit on the grounds:

    • The plaintiffs failed/neglected to comply with the mandatory sections 97 and 98 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process of the Federal High Court Rules 2009;
    • The second, third, fifth and sixth defendants were not personally served with the originating summons;
    • The court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain an action or proceeding as proper parties are not before it;
    • The plaintiffs failed to show a reasonable cause of action;
    • The court lacks the competence to and/or requisite jurisdiction to entertain the case in whole as constituted, and the interest of justice will be better served by the grant of this objection.

    Justice N. I Afolabi dismissed the six grounds, saying: “On the whole, I find that the defendants’ objections are unsustainable and lacking in merit. This preliminary objection therefore fails on all grounds and it is dismissed.

    “From all facts and documentary evidence before the court, it is evident that there is a cause of action established by the alleged irregularity in the congress, and the fact that the second to sixth defendants have allegedly continued to parade themselves as the state executive committee, despite the decision of the Appeal Panel.

    “It would appear to my mind, therefore, that there are serious and actionable issues placed before the court by the plaintiffs and same are actionable against the defendants.

    “Furthermore, I have ascertained from allegations made, and documents raised before me, that if the facts are proved against the defendants, the plaintiffs would likely succeed in their claims.

    “I, therefore, find that not only do the plaintiffs have a cause of action against the defendants, they also have a reasonable cause of action which this court can validly adjudicate.”

  • Protests mar Kwara PDP congress

    Protests mar Kwara PDP congress

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state congress in Kwara state was characterized with protests by aggrieved party members.

    While a group wanted the incumbent executive of the party led by Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo to return unopposed, another group preferred voting to elect new leadership for the party.

    The situation led to unnecessary delay in accreditation of delegates.

    The irreconcilable differences led to non accreditation of delegates of delegates from Kwara central zone in the exercise that lasted till wee hours of Wednesday.

    Disenchanted members of the party led by Senator Ayinla Folorunsho, vowed to resist affirmation being introduced by the incumbent state executive committee of the party.

    They accused the state chairman of the party, Iyiola Oyedepo, of a plan to scuttle the process of injecting new blood into the executive of the party with his insistence affirmation instead of congress as directed by the national body of the party.

    Addressing reporters Wednesday in Ilorin, Folorunsho warned that angry members of the party would not allow the congress to hold provided the incumbent executive insisted on affirmation.

    He threatened that in the event that the state executive failed to conduct the congress, members of the party would be left with no option than to convey its grievances to the national headquarters of the party.

    He said that “there is supposed to be PDP congress, and that is what is going on. But there is a mixture of things. The present executive wants to do affirmation. We members of the PDP want a congress. It is the congress that the national leadership of the party asked us to do, and all along, the state chairman has been saying that there would be no congress, that they are going to do affirmation. We members of the party are not going to allow affirmation but congress.
    “It was the national body that announced that all states except Kogi, Edo and Ondo, all the rest including FCT must go for congresses.”

    Also speaking, another member of the party, Dr Abdulganiyu Abdulbaki, said the current executive of the party wanted to perpetuate its impunity while members would not allow such to recur.

    He called for the dissolution of the current executive of the party to pave the way for the emergence of new people with fresh ideas.

    Abdulbaki also warned that things would not go down well with members of the party if the duly recognised list was not used at the congress.

    Meanwhile, the state police command said it has arrested nine persons for alleged public disturbance during the congress.

     

  • Kwara PDP: we ’re behind ordeal of Saraki’s wife

    Kwara PDP: we ’re behind ordeal of Saraki’s wife

    THE Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has claimed responsibility for the investigation of Senate president’s wife, Toyin Saraki, for corruption.

    In a statement yesterday, the state PDP said it was the petition it sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that got Mrs. Saraki into trouble.

    It debunked claims that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, were behind her ordeal.

    The EFCC last week invited Mrs. Saraki, who was the Kwara State’s First Lady between 2003 and 2011, in relation to alleged questionable inflow of funds into companies in which she has interest.

    The statement, by the party’s spokesperson, Rex Olawoye, reads: “It has become imperative to inform  the public that we have every reason to believe that a petition recently submitted to the EFCC by the PDP, Kwara State Chapter, is largely responsible for the invitation and eventual criminal prosecution of the former Kwara First Lady and wife of the Senate president, Mrs. Toyin Saraki.

    “It will be recalled that our party had, sometime early this year, discreetly submitted a petition to the EFCC detailing how certain individuals in high places under the past administration of Dr. Bukola Saraki milked the state dry and left the people more impoverished than they met them.

    “In the petition, we carefully chronicled how state officials, including former First Lady, former Special Adviser to the Governor on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mr. Ope Saraki; Personal Assistant (PA) to ex-Governor Bukola Saraki, Mr. Abdul Adama from Kogi State; a former Commissioner for Information, Mr. Tunji Morounfoye, all working in a ring, got enmeshed in a cesspool of corruption unprecedented in the history of Kwara State or any other state for that matter.

    “Although we believe that the arrest and prosecution of Mrs. Saraki is long overdue, we, nevertheless, take solace under the fact that the long arm of the law seems to have finally caught up with her and her cronies. We are particularly delighted that our painstaking efforts at chronicling the monumental heist that defined the eight years, almost uneventful rule of former Governor Bukola Saraki in Kwara, has not gone unnoticed.

    “We, therefore, commend the EFCC for its resourcefulness and painstakingness. We pledge our cooperation with the EFCC and all other relevant anti-graft agencies to ensure that all those who knowingly looted our collective patrimony, but now walk the streets of Kwara free with their ill-gotten wealth, do not go unpunished.

    “We urge the anti-graft agency not to buckle in to pressure or blackmail that is already being mounted by political jobbers over Mrs. Saraki’s invitation by the EFCC.

    “Instead of sponsoring paid activist-for-hire to stampede the EFCC out of the prosecution, one would have thought that the most moral thing for Mrs. Saraki and her handlers to do now is to allow the law to take its cause. Since the duo of Ope Saraki and Tunji Morounfoye are already standing trial for their crimes, one would expect Mrs. Saraki too to seize the moment and clear her name, instead of playing to the gallery.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, we reiterate that the offences Mrs. Saraki is being accused of are criminal in nature and such offences are not known to be statute-barred.

    “Therefore, the fact that it took over five years after Mrs. Saraki left office as Kwara First Lady before she is eventually brought before the law does not matter.

    “What matters is that justice is ultimately served, especially for the sake of the hard-working Kwara civil servants, poor Kwara farmers and the promising children of Kwara who were and are still being subjected to all manner of deprivation as a result of the rapaciousness of a privileged few who could not contain the temptation to steer clear of the cookie jar.”

    The statement has contradicted the position of a group of senators loyal to the Senate president, under the aegis of ‘Like Minds’.

    The senators had questioned the investigation, expressing concerns that the probe might be politically-motivated. They suggested that the leadership of the APC might be hounding Mrs. Saraki as a way of getting at her husband.

    Joseph Waku, a chieftain of the APC, had also on Saturday accused Tinubu of masterminding a “baseless petition” that led to the invitation of Mrs. Saraki by the EFCC, a charge the former Lagos governor denied.

    Saraki has been locked in battle with the leadership of the ruling APC over his emergence as Senate president on June 9, contrary to the party’s position.

  • What future for Kwara PDP? 

    What future for Kwara PDP? 

    What does the future hold for the Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

    This is the question on the lips of many people in the state.

    Since the party suffered a crushing defeat at the recent general elections, there has been a lull in the activities of the party. Indeed, many PDP chieftains have left the state. The party in now a ghost of its self.

    Pundits argue that the emergence of Senator Simeon Ajibola as the governorship candidate in a racourous primary and the subsequent defection of Senator Gbemisola Saraki and her supporters to the All Progressives Congress (APC), on the eve of the presidential elections, served as the PDP’s death knell.

    Senator Gbemisola Saraki, a scion of the Saraki dynasty and a grassroots politician, commands a large followership.

    During their defection, former Speaker of the House of Assembly Pastor Benjamin Yisa and a close associate of the senator said with the defection of Saraki and his associates to the APC, it was impossible for the PDP to win the poll.

    He said: “No matter how the Kwara PDP tries to shake it off, Gbemi’s defection is a big blow to the party. The PDP’s loss is now the APC’s gain. Going by the results of the last election, the impact of her defection is being felt all over the state.

    “Her defection will serve as a lesson to the political class not to maltreat its best eleven. The idea that monkey dey chop, baboon dey work is over in politics. Unfortunately, the Kwara PDP didn’t listen to this timely advice of its national chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu but went on a frolic of their own. The three State Executives of the PDP that announced their defection yesterday were the engine room of PDP in the Kwara State. And now that the engine rooms have left, what is remaining is a mere carcass.”

    Gbemi Saraki said: “I commend members of the GRS Movement for standing up in solidarity at this critical time. I assure them that the storm is over. With the APC, we are assured of justice, equity and fair play. I also commend and thank the leadership of the APC in Kwara State led by Senator Bukola Saraki and Governor Ahmed who have made our move seamless. On behalf of the teeming members of the GRS Movement, I assure them of our dedication and commitment to all party causes.”

    A former chieftain of the PDP, Rev Bunmi Olusona said the PDP is dead in the state, adding that“the future of PDP in Kwara is very bleak. The party selfishly mismanaged it primaries and ended up with an array of bad and unsellable candidates.

    “The party is now peopled by wilted politicians without fellowship. I left the party with a cream of grassroot politicians and my exit finally nailed the coffin of the party in the state. The platform now is nothing but a mere debating society.”

    But, the PDP Chairman, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, said the party can bounce back to reckoning. He admitted that the party, before the elections, was peopled with ambitious, arrogant and self-conceited politicians

    Oyedepo added: “Reality has dawned on them. It is now many of us can reason very well. They now know that PDP can lose. Many of those that can give us problems don’t have resources to do that again. They have exhausted their money; they prefer to eat with whatever they have now. The collective loss now makes us to sit down and strategise for the future. I have no doubt that we are going to get there.

    Throughout the country, activities are down now because government is about to be formed. In the next one or two months, President Muhammadu Buhari would have formed his cabinet; even state governors would have picked their commissioners and formed their cabinet. Then we will know what to do. As a party, we just held a meeting, we want to re-strategize and move forward. There must be a period you just keep low for some time. This is the period and I am sure after the Ramadan our activities will pick up in earnest.

    On the defection of Gbemisola Saraki, the PDP chairman said: “When she was in our party, she aspired to become the governorship candidate and lost. If she is the most important person, she would have lost. When she decided to go for governorship in 2011, she lost. After all, that party was owned by her father. If they were that powerful, they would have won. It is not true that her defection has nailed PDP.

    “People only see noise making and appearance in Gbemisola Saraki. Her hold on Kwara politics is too fickle. I don’t dispute that fact that she commands some followers in Kwara central but even absolute. In the whole of Kwara South Gbemisola has no hold at all. How can we be dead when she has no hold in anywhere in the seven local government areas of Kwara South?

    “When you go to North how many people are following her? But when she comes to town and command some thugs and they follow, you say that is politics. In other words, PDP is alive and kicking in the state.

    “We lost the 2015 elections for some key reasons. We lost because we were not united among ourselves; we lost of the over ambition of many of the key contestants. Their belief was that ‘let me have the ticket and I am already in government house,’ because they had not seen our party losing any election.

    “To them, once you had the ticket you were almost 90 percent to government. So, it made for over ambition. We also lost that because our national secretariat did not take us serious. The secretariat believed we could never win in the state where the Sarakis have taken everything; as a result of that, we were not properly financed. We lost because, when we evolved a candidate, other people refused to work with him”.

    And lost because we had moles in our midst; they were here to report to some other people what we were doing and when it was time for them to go home they left us.”

    “Reality has dawned on them. It is now many of us can reason very well. They now know that PDP can lose. Many of those that can give us problems don’t have resources to do that again”

  • ‘Kwara PDP hasn’t recovered from post-election trauma’

    ‘Kwara PDP hasn’t recovered from post-election trauma’

    The Kwara State All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has not recovered from post-elections trauma.

    APC also dismissed the allegation by the PDP that the state government planned to victimise civil servants loyal to the PDP.

    The ruling party said the allegation was unfounded, untrue and a false alarm.

    A statement by its spokesperson, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, assured that the APC administration would not victimise civil servants because of their political preferences in the last general elections.

    Buhari said: “In as much as civil servants are Kwarans and they reserve the rights to vote whoever candidate and whichever party they so desire, it is also clear that civil servants are not politicians. By the term of appointment, they lack the right to involve in partisan politics.

    “We, therefore, warn the opposition PDP to desist from its new ploy to politicise the affairs of Kwara State civil service.

    “It is not true that the Abdulfatah Ahmed administration plans to victimise any civil servant. The allegation is unfounded, untrue and a mere false alarm.

    “The false alarm by the traumatised opposition PDP is a failed attempt to cause conundrum and tension in the civil service.

    “Meanwhile, considering the intent, content and tune of the false alarm by the PDP, it is evident the party is yet to recover from post-elections trauma…”