By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Chairman of the caretaker committee of the All Progressives Party (APC) in Kwara State, Abdullahi Samari Abubakar, on Thursday accused the former chairman of the committee, Bashir Bolarinwa, of causing mayhem at the stakeholders meeting of the party on Wednesday.
Abubakar also said Bolarinwa’s alleged acts of brigandage had the approval of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The stakeholders meeting held at the state Banquet Hall in Ilorin attended by the seven-man committee assigned to oversee the party’s membership registration and revalidation exercise in the state was to discuss issues about the exercise before it was disrupted.
Bolarinwa who is still laying claim to the chairmanship of the caretaker committee despite reports from the national secretariat of the party that he has been removed and replaced by his deputy, Abubakar, alleged that he was attacked by opponents within the party when he arrived at the venue of the meeting.
However, Abubakar, while explaining the side of his group said Bolarinwa in company of some thugs allegedly stormed the venue of the meeting in a violent manner that left many in bewilderment.
He argued that if Bolarinwa was indeed attacked as he claimed, that might have happened outside the venue. But he said the former chairman violently forced himself inside the venue, thereby disrupting the meeting.
Abubakar alleged that Bolarinwa failed to pass through the entrance where people were being screened before they could enter into the hall but chose to force himself in through an entrance which was closed.
He alleged that Bolarinwa and others who disrupted the meeting “clearly acted on the instruction of Lai Mohammed.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms possible the show of shame by erstwhile party chairman and my brother, Hon. Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, and a few others who are clearly acting on the instruction of Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
“Hon. BOB’s decision to disrupt the meeting that he was invited to as a leader of the party was unfortunate, in bad faith, and definitely contrary to the spirit of the meeting.
“BOB was willingly invited like others. Forcing himself in through the unauthorised door with the aid of some thugs is uncalled for,” he stated.
Abubakar while justifying his conclusion that Bolarinwa acted on the instruction of Mohammed said Bolarinwa was handpicked by Mohammed to be the chairman of the party and, therefore, whatever he does in the party, he does it for Mohammed.
However in his reaction, a chieftain of the party, Iyiola Oyedepo, who said he went to the meeting in the company of Bolarinwa denounced Abubakar’s claim that Bolarinwa disrupted the meeting and that he acted on the instruction of Mohammed.
Oyedepo said he and Bolarinwa were attacked by some women supporters of the state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who were calling Bolarinwa unprintable names.
He described as false the claim of Abubakar that Mohammed instigated the violence saying the whole matter was started by the governor’s supporters who attacked Bolarinwa.
Oyedepo described Bolarinwa as the rightful chairman of the caretaker committee saying that Abubakar was occupying the post illegally.