Hot SourceHammed Shittu in Ilorin
Ahead of the 2027 elections, some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) converged on Ilorin, Kwara state capital to form another platform, Kwara Redemption Movement (KRM) to rescue the state out of woods.
The APC leaders who were active figures in the “enough is enough movement struggle of 2019 elections that worked to oust the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the governance of the state, said, “we are back to trenches again to change the political narrative after our victory in 2019 which has not produced any meaningful result or success.”
Among the APC chieftains that converged in Ilorin included a former member of House of representatives, Hon Moshood Mustapha, Hon Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, immediate past publicity secretary of the APC, Folaranmi Aro and a former commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed Lade.
Speaking at the inauguration of the executive members and coordinators that will drive the KRM at the 16 local government areas of the state in Ilorin on Thursday, chairman of the forum, Hon. Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo said the movement was out to check a system that produced a government in Kwara state that had not meet the expectations of the proponents of the Oto’ ge struggle.
“You have the right to be angry but don’t be angry with the people in government but the system that produced them and that is the essence of this platform because if we don’t attack the system that produced them, we will continue to have the wrong persons”.
He said KRM will register only quality members who are people with ‘integrity, character, knowledge” and most importantly “people that will be able to hold their stomach until food is ready”.
Also speaking, Mustapha on his part said the movement was not “a political party for anyone to realise his or her ambition but a formidable platform for negotiations to change the way politics is being done in Kwara”.
He lamented that “those who were in the ‘Oto ge’ struggle which swept the Peoples Democratic Party government out of power in 2019, have nothing to celebrate, because things are not okay.
“Things are not the way they are supposed to be, we must change the status quo, we will right the wrong, we are all stakeholders, KRM, is to ensure that Kwara is rescued from the rot.”
He regretted that the ‘Oto ge’ struggle of 2019 came with victory for proponents of the struggle but the victory according to him, has been “without success”, adding that the “major beneficiary of the struggle has not met the expectations of the masses”.
The APC chieftain said the movement had nothing against the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ruling APC.
“We are not against the president of Nigeria, we are not against our traditional rulers, we have respect for them but things are not going the way they should and we must change the status quo’, he declared.
Former commissioner, Alhaji Aliyu Lade and Mrs Gunu Elizabeth, who also spoke from Kwara North at the inauguration, called for unity and sacrifices amongst members to achieve the goals for which the movement was formed.
