Buhari will win Kwara in 2019, says Lai amid dissolution of pro-Saraki exco

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari will be victorious in Kwara during the 2019 elections.

The minister, in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, said with the recent gale of defections, the APC members and supporters in Kwara were determined to strengthen the party.

He said the party will open its doors to hordes of those willing to join and reposition it ahead of the 2019 general election.

The minister noted that with the defection of the APC members in the national assembly, the “wheat had been separated from the chaff”.

Responding to a statement made by one Jimoh Balogun at a press conference in Ilorin, Mohammed said his new leadership of APC in Kwara would not cede the state to double agents.

He said the challenge by Balogun to his membership of, and contributions to, the APC was inconsequential.

“The issue of my membership of the APC, as well as my contributions to the growth of the party in Kwara and indeed in Nigeria as a whole, is settled and not subject to any contestation,” he said.

“For those who may be engaging in mischief over this, the massive turnout of APC members and supporters to welcome me during my trip home this past weekend for a stakeholders’ consultative meeting should serve as ample confirmation.

“The truth is that those who are making this allegation are the ones who need to validate their membership of our great party since they have left no one in any doubt about their status as ‘double agents’.

“Alhaji Balogun is one of the three Kwara Senatorial Chairmen who recently called on their leader to take them out of the APC.

“As far as our members are concerned, these Janus-faced people are just waiting to crash the APC in Kwara before they escape to the other side,” he said.

The minister said his critics were rattled because of the decision not to allow them to actualise their nefarious plan.

Meanwhile, the APC has dissolved the state executive committee loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Ishola Fulani Balogun, chairman of the group, has been replaced with Bashir Bolarinwa.

The dissolution of the state’s executive committee was contained in a notice dated July 30 and signed by Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman; and Mai Mala Buni, national secretary of the party.