By Chimezie Godfrey
Allegations by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed against the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Shao over the ongoing APC registration and revalidation in Kwara state have been debunked.
The Party’s Chieftain Wole Oke, who is also the Jagunmolu of Shao in Oro Kingdom of the state disclosed this in a statement made available to Newsdayonline on Wednesday.
He blamed the Minister for not making thorough investigation before jumping into conclusion and believing the falsehood reported to him by his followers in Shao.
The party chieftain stressed that his attention was drawn to the text of a press conference held by the Minister for information and culture, Lai Mohammed at his home town, Oro where he raised many issues in respect of the ongoing revalidation and registration of members of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State.
He pointed out that among rhe issues raised was what he referred to as irregularities in the process of the exercise, citing a number of areas of the alleged irregularities.
“According to the Minister, relying on the report submitted to him by his “followers” in Shao, alleged that the Divisional police officer in Shao was the one who was presiding over the APC membership registration in the town.
“The Minister believed his follower’s report which also added that they (his followers) in Shao were denied registration. To say the least, any reasonable leader, worth his leadership status would have done thorough investigation into such a sensitive matter like, the indictment of a public officer of the status of the DPO whose integrity is being assailed, muddied and besmirched.
“I, Chief Wole Oke, a chieftain of the party and, in my status as a leader of the party in Shao, nay, in Kwara State generally, a fact which the Honourable Minister knows quite well, having been together for close to two decades in our partisan political relationship, should, under whatever circumstances, have contacted me to find out the truth of the situation in Shao before he hurriedly went public with the fake information submitted to him by his followers.
“I have always been in Shao, on daily basis, since the commencement of the revalidation / registration exercise last week. Every party member who presented himself/herself for registration was duly registered by the registration officers in all the seven (7) registration centers in Shao Ward.
“However, those who are known in Shao to be members of the group of the former chairman of the party, Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa (BOB), of which the Honourable Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, is their recognized leader in the state, have refused to register at the officially approved registration centres, the INEC polling centres, but rather, they have set up their own registration centre in front of the house of one of their members, Mr. David Samuel.
“They were going from house to house to take the pictures of people, including very old women who never even belonged to their group, for the purpose of passport photos for their registration.
“It was this same group of deviant APC members who were going round the town telling the people of the community not to go out to the officially approved centres to register.
“One of their diabolical plans was to invade every officially approved registration centre in the Ward with the intention to pour ink in large quantity on the registration materials in the venue with a view to destroying the registers and booklets already containing names of members who had come forward to register.
“It was in view of this maniac threat of vandalism that the registration officers, with the approval of the Ward Supervisors, sought refuge within the premises of the police station in Shao. Contrary to the report published by Lai Mohammed, associating the DPO with the registration exercise in Shao, the DPO has had nothing to do with the exercise at any time.
“The police station under his control has merely provided refuge and security for the officially appointed registration officers of the Ward to do their work because of the threat posed by the members of the faction under the leadership of the duo of Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Honourable Bashir Omolaja Bolarinwa, the erstwhile state chairman of the party.
“What Alhaji Lai Mohammed has done in respect of the unverified report from his followers in Shao, regarding the goings on the membership registration exercise is below what his status demands, either as a party leader or as a national figure, being a member of the Federal Executive Council.
“Alhaji Lai Mohammed’s accusation against the DPO of Shao is monstrously ridiculous and baseless, callous and an abuse of the ministerial office he occupies,” he stated.
He stressed that the DPO whom has been unjustifiably maligned deserves an unreserved apology from the Minister.
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