A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara, Dr Rex Olawoye, says any attempt to resolve the party’s crisis in the state without resort to the constitution and the resolution of the National Executive Committee will fail.
Olawoye said this on Sunday in Ilorin while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on how to resolve the APC crisis in the state.
NAN reports that the national body of the party had referred the matter to the North Central Zone executives for settlement.
“I do not know the method the North Central Zone executive of the party wants to use to resolve the issue.
“One thing that is sure is that whatever method that does not follow the constitution and the resolution of NEC is null and void.
“So if Gov. Sani Bello of Niger wants peace, he should go by the truth, you go for absolute truth, nothing but the truth and he should be blunt about it,” Olawoye added.
He said referring the matter to the North Central Zone of the party was a “political gimmick.”
“We are talking about NEC, you are talking about North Central. How many of us are members of North Central?
” What is happening is that they know that it will not work,” he said.
Olawoye urged the NEC of APC to appeal to Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq ” to let the sleeping dogs lie.”
“It is the National Executive Council of the party that can resolve this crisis. I have not seen where people in that hierarchy of the party would say one word and swallow it the second day.
” They would resolve and get a resolution and somebody that is supposed to execute that resolution would turn it upside down and they are looking at him.
“That person ought to be fired from the party because that is the highest order of disobedience.
“Discipline is one of the things that is killing this party,” Olawoye said.
The APC chieftain also identified leadership tussles as one of the causes of frictions in the party.
He described as abnormal the idea of governors dominating the party’s structure.
“To me, I find it abnormal for Government House to dominate the party’s structure as this appears unreasonable.
“It is abnormal for somebody you pick to represent you in a position and that person comes back and becomes your boss. It looks absurd and very illogical,” Olawoye said.
He said for internal democracy to reign supreme in the party, the constitution must be respected.
Olawoye called for the amendment of the party’s constitution to make the chairman the leader of the party and not governors.
“The major problem we have emanated from the inappropriateness of the party’s constitution.
” Until the constitution is amended accordingly, we would continue to have this problem over and over again.
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“ We have people fighting for the leadership of the party, some people will say because he is holding the highest office in that state, he is the leader of the party in the state.
“ The governor is the leader of the party; it is this terrible confusion that gives room for that kind of discrepancy.
” Usually, the party’s chairman is number one in the state and he is the leader of the party in the state.
” In a meeting, before the governor comes in, the governor has to take excuse to come in or they can ask
him to go back. The discipline was there then.
“That is why we are having party squabbles all over the states.
“We are talking of Kwara because you are here, when you look at other states, it is the same because they don’t want to agree that those who put them in the position are their bosses.
“I have always told the governor that we should not embark on a project that we may not be able to finish, a project that may consume us.
” I told him one on one,” he added.