By Dare Akogun
A former Special Adviser to ex President Goodluck Jonathan on National Assembly Matters, Senator Makanjuola Suleiman Ajadi, has accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of betrayal.
This as the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC in the State has approached the Federal High Court Ilorin, to seek the disqualification of Ajadi from contesting the Kwara South Senatorial districts election in the 2023 general election.
An originating summons sighted by Sobi FM, is challenging the former Senator on his right to contest the forthcoming election on the platform of The African Democratic Congress (ADC), which according to the party, Ajadi does not belong to during the primary.
The suit is also challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and ADC on their acts of accepting his nomination.
When contacted by Sobi FM Ajadi described the suit as laughable, saying since the matter is in court he will leave the court to determine the suit.
Ajadi who is one of the staunch loyalist of Governor Abdulrasaq, condemned the APC Senatorial primary election in the state, described it as a fraudulent process in which he could not identify the delegates elected for the exercise.
He alleged that Abdulrazaq betrayed him because, “I consulted and confided in him before taking the shot at the Senatorial primary election, but the process was fraudulent.
“I complained to Governor Abdulrazaq and even suggested a clear and acceptable process which will be fair and free to all contestants but fell on deaf ears.
” I will fight the battle on the platform of the ADC for my people, if my people in Kwara South Senatorial District cannot get the dividends of democracy, why must I sink or swim with a party called APC,” he queried.
The suit, personally signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Legal Matters, Malam Sambo Muritala, will come up on July 26, 2022.
This is another dimension in the crisis rocking the APC after the last primary election of the party as the Senator who is a former Chairman, “Committee on Review of Sales of Kwara State Government Properties, between 1999 and 2019” and a former ally of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq becomes the latest top politician to publicly call out the governor.
It would be recalled that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, who represents Kwara Central senatorial district at the National Assembly, Dr. Yahaya Oloriegbe, faulted the just concluded conduct of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in the state describing it as a charade lacking in good conduct.
He said the party primaries lacked democratic tenets in comparison with other APC states primaries as the state Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, allegedly fiat the composition of the delegates list at the night of the primaries.
Oloriegbe, who lost out to the former National Chairman aspirant of the APC, Mallam Saliu Mustapha, at the primaries, stated this on Channels Television.
According to the senator, “The governors decided what happens with fiat, without any semblance of democratic tenets being followed in virtually all the states in Nigeria.
“In almost everywhere, there was no proper election of delegates. The governors only selected those they fancied.
“Like in Kwara State, Governor Abdulrazaq just sat down with a few of his people one night and produced a supposed delegate list for the state.
“The aspirants didn’t even know the delegates; they changed them at will. Thus, they only selected those that’ll take instructions from them, and in some instances, some even took oaths.
“Majority of Kwara electorate wanted me to return to the Senate because of my sterling performance, yet the state governor didn’t and that’s why he instructed and coerced the handpicked delegates to vote against me at the primaries.
“I challenge the governor to a public meeting. Can you imagine a month after the so-called primaries, my governor hasn’t deemed it fit to call me, how then does the party intend to win?”
