All Progressive Congress (APC) Kwara state chapter chairman, Honourable Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, yesterday insisted that Alhaji AbdulRahaman Abdulrasaq remains the party’s flag bearer.
The chairman reacted against the growing dissenting voices against the candidature of Abdulrasaq following the controversial governorship primaries. “AbdulRahaman Abdulrasaq is APC’s candidate and he belongs to all of us”, he said.
Speaking at the first APC Stakeholders’ Summit organised following its primaries entitled: “Imperatives of Unity and Party Loyalty Towards Good Governance in Kwara state”, Bolarinwa appealed to all aspirants who lost during the primaries to rally round the governorship candidate and others to emerge victorious in the forthcoming general elections.
Bolarinwa said the party has worked hard ahead of the 2019 election in the last three months and therefore could not afford to go into 2019 election as a divided house if it must take cover government from the PDP in the state.
He assured all the aggrieved aspirants that the party leadership would “look into the cases of all candidates who lost during the primaries” and insisted that that “Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq is APC candidate and he belongs to all of us”.
Recalling the meeting at the aspirants had with President Muhammadu Buhari, the party chairman stressed the need for members to be loyal to the party irrespective of their ambitions in the overall interest of the party.
Meanwhile, son of the former chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC), Late Mustapha Akanbi (rtd), Ahmed Akanbi yesterday said he has embraced the candidacy of Abdulrasaq because he is not a corrupt politician.
However, Akanbi, a governorship aspirant of in recently held APC primaries, warned that the desire of APC to take over government from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year general elections in kwara state “will not be a tea party affairs”.
Earlier in his lecture, Akanbi urged party members and stakeholders to be more united and focused to assist the party to win the elections in the state.
“We must forget all our differences and come together as one united front in order to assist APC in Kwara state to clinch the governorship position of the state come 2019”.
“Members of the party wherever you may come from whether from Kwara Central, Kwara North and Kwara South should shun all forms of acrimony and work as a team so as to help the party to record a sound electoral victory during the polls”, he advised.
The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) has fixed November 2nd as deadline for final submission of candidates for governorship and national assembly candidates by political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
