By Giwa SHILE
The factional Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Mr Bashir Bolarinwa, said the emergence of Mr Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman will reposition the party.
Bolarinwa, who made this known in a statement issued on Monday in Ilorin, also expressed satisfaction with the emergence of Oshiomhole as the chairman.
“On behalf of our teeming members in Kwara State, we congratulate our newly elected national chairman and the party for a successful national convention that ended last weekend.
“The new chairman, who understands the problem rocking the party over time, while making his acceptance speech displayed sufficient knowledge of our problem and spoke to it.
“Oshiomhole emphasised the need for internal democracy within the party and commitment from all members of the party.
“He was very clear when he said that the crisis in some state chapters of the party will be addressed and a win-win status will be achieved, saying it is time to do away with arrogance.
“This is what we have been fighting to achieve since the struggle to have a party that can be owned by everyone and credible enough to midwife a better government started in our dear state.
“We have come this far because of the encouraging support we enjoyed from well-meaning Kwarans at home and abroad.
“We never envisaged a smooth ride, anyway, we have always maintained that the road will be rough but the struggle is worth giving everything,” Bolarinwa said.
“We fought and exposed impunity, high handedness and injustice from the ward congress to the national convention.
“We equally displayed maturity in handling every stage of the struggle -no physical combat and all sorts of misbehaviour. We are peaceful, strategic and above all patriotic,” the factional chairman added.
Bolarinwa added that his group had waited for a time like this to speak to the public, adding that the acceptance speech of the new national chairman was apt.
“The first speech of the elected chairman couldn’t have come earlier too. We were keen on the words of the new chairman as a compass for his administration,” he said.
Bolarinwa commended his members that participated on the convention committee for making the state proud.
“All our members on the committee behaved as true Kwarans when they combined diligence with tenacity while discharging their duties.
“Alhaji Abdulganiyu Cook Olododo was conspicuously seen on national television while working during voting, counting as a member of the election committee. The two other men did excellently well.
“We shall continue to seek within the means provided by the law to advance a free political space in Kwara State and entrench internal democracy in our great party, the All Progressives Congress.
“We are grateful to our members for the sacrifices they made since the journey started. We want to assure them that despair is never a word in this type of struggle.
“They must remember that we need more than ordinary persuasion to dissuade those who feed on impunity and have successfully indoctrinated many,” Bolarinwa said.
