Kwara 2019: Omotose, Bolarinwa Disagree over Party’s Flag Bearer

By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, Hon. Kayode AbdulWahab Omotose, yesterday said he remained the party’s only gubernatorial candidate recognised by law.

Omotose , during an interview with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, said he emerged the winner of the governorship primaries conducted by the court- backed Ishola Balogun- Fulani led APC in the state.

He said going by the subsisting court injunction that recognises Balogun- Fulani led APC executives in the state, anyone claiming to have emerged as the party’s governorship candidate from any other primaries is an impostor.

But, in his reaction, the state chairman of the party, Hon. Bashr Bolarinwa has described the stand of Hon. Omotose “as a huge joke that is taking too far in the state”.

In a statement issued in Ilorin yesterday  by the Head of Media and Publicity Committee of the party, Mr. Kayode Oyin-Zubair said that, “The primaries that produced Alhaji Abdulraham Abdulrasaq was a direct one where all registered members participated and was supervised by a panel duly constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) and INEC”.

However, Hon. Omotose urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to treat the issue of Kwara APC the way it had treated the Peoples Democratic Party’s issue in Ogun state.

INEC had recognised candidates that emerged from the primaries conducted by the Buriji Kashamu’s faction of PDP in Ogun state, relying on a court order which recognises Kashamu’s faction of the party.

Omotose, a former senior journalist with THISDAY Newspapers, also asked President Muhammadu Buhari, as a leader who has respect for the rule of law to call the APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole and Information minister, Lai Mohammed to order on the legal status of Kwara APC.

He asked Oshiomhole and Mohammed to respect the court’s injunction that recognises Balogun- Fulani led executives of APC in the state and stop patronising those illegally parading themselves as party’s executives and governorship candidate in the state in defiance of the court order.

Omotose  reminded Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa and a factional governorship candidate of APC in the state,  Alhaji  AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq that their laying claims to the chairmanship of the party and governorship candidacy respectively is contemptuous of court’s order.

But contacted yesterday, the Head of Media and Publicity Committee of APC led by Hon. Bolarinwa,  Mr. Kayode Oyin-Zubair said that,  “Hon. Abdulwahab Omotose has taken his joke too far stressing that,  “The primaries that produced Alhaji Abdulraham Abdulrasaq was a direct one where all registered members participated and was supervised by a panel duly constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) and INEC”.