Lai risks sanction from Kwara APC after outburst against Abdulrazaq

Abdullahi Samari Abubakar, chairman of the caretaker committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, says disciplinary measures could be taken against Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture.

On Saturday, Mohammed said he regrets supporting Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Kwara governor, during the 2019 gubernatorial poll.

The minister said under Abdulrazaq, Kwara has gotten into “one chance” — a Nigerian parlance used to refer to theft by deception.

Speaking with reporters at the APC national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, Abubakar said the rules will apply against the minister if his utterances are found to be “disrespectful” or “causing acrimony”.

“I still see the minister as a member of our party because he has not formally told us that he is moving out of the party which I doubt if he will go,” he said.

“He is a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria where the APC as a ruling party is running the administration of government.

“So I don’t think he will want to move out. But from those utterances he made, the party, APC as a structure, has guidelines over issues.

“If we feel that what he said publicly amounts to disrespect or causing acrimony within the party, honestly, we are going to make sure the rules of the party are applied against him and any other person.”

When asked if Mohammed could be suspended for his conduct, Abubakar said if his outburst warrants suspension, “definitely the rule of the party is going to apply”.

“There are guidelines like I told you,” he said.

“If the offense is commensurate with suspending him, or any other, definitely the rule of the party is going to apply because nobody is too big to be sanctioned.”

Meanwhile, Kwara APC senators have also expressed their support for Abdulrazaq.

Umar Sadiq, senator representing Kwara north, Lola Ashiru, representing Kwara south; and Ibrahim Oloriegbe, senator representing Kwara central, jointly spoke with reporters at the national assembly.

In countering the information minister, Sadiq said the funds that they spent was raised by the governor.

“Our governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, before he became the governor of Kwara state, was a successful person. He is from a solid family of entrepreneurs and during the election he came up with a lot of resources from his personal funds and friends and family. We didn’t lack resources to run our election,” he said.

“Come 2023, because of the work done by our governor and the legislators – senators and house of representatives – the whole people of Kwara state will be sympathetic to us.”

The senator said they are working to resolve the issues in the APC in Kwara.