Aggrieved leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 16 local government areas of Kwara State today (January 14, 2023) warned the leadership of the party in the state against its decision to ignore them on issues of utmost concern to the people of the state.
The leaders, who insisted that they remain in the party in spite of the glaring shortcomings of its leadership, informed that they might be forced to opt for last resort in the event they were ignored as exhibited in the past and present.
A former Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, Engineer Jide Usman, who addressed a media briefing for the unveiling of “Kwara State Opinion Leaders-P16”, said the group leaders had watched patiently and with grave concern some happenings in the state political horizon.
At the briefing that had other leaders of the group in attendance, Usman listed some of their grievances to include inability of the government to organize local government election to bring elected officials to run the affairs at the local government level, slow and low-payment of gratuities due to pensioners, neglect of the rural areas with regards to physical development and agriculture which government would have used to create employment for the teeming youth and the rural road network neglect.
He disclosed that P16 comprises of respected opinion leaders and grassroots mobilizers in the 16 local government areas that any serious politcal group in the state cannot afford to ignore.
The erstwhile council chairman said overtures made to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to table the grievances of the group proved unsuccessful.
He said the interaction of the group with people across the three senatorial districts of the state also revealed similar tales of woes and disappointments leading to the resolve to pitch tent together and take their destiny in their hands in the forthcoming general elections.
Usman, a one-time governorship aspirant, cautioned that the APC may not able to form the next government in the state this year if positive actions were not taken on the issues of concern raised in the running of the present administration.
“We had sought audience with His Excellency to enable us present our feelings, observations and opinions for discussion with him on one-on-one basis. The overtures were ignored. This was in spite of the fact we are not taking all these steps for pecuniary benefits but for the benefit of his administration and the good people of Kwara in general.
“We went further by appealing to some other notable Kwarans to facilitate our meeting with the Governor to raise with him our concerns and give suggestions and possible strategies that can be deployed to counter the ugly development in order to prevent the forthcoming political disaster and achieve success in the forthcoming elections.
“Surprisingly, all our efforts proved abortive because up till this moment and in as much as we believed that our messages got to him, he decided to ignore them and refused to see us. We therefore came to the conclusion that it is either that he is not seeing what we are seeing or that he considers us not important.
“However, we must state here categorically that it was the notable collective efforts, supports and sacrifices of the P7 as APC members and other groups that succeeded in giving birth to the present administration in the state. Therefore, we are qualified to give genuine advice when we observe that things are going wrong.
“We must express our feelings and state emphatically that we feel neglected and marginalized by the government that our massive sacrifices, contributions led to its emergence.
“Consequently, our disappointment and dissatisfaction led us to discover that millions of other Kwarans have experienced similar I don’t care attitude from the government of Kwara State, with whom we now associate to stop this kind of government from coming to power in Kwara State again”, the former council chairman said.
