By Abdulrasheed Akogun

A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Dr. Bolaji Afolabi has described Chief Wole Oke’s outburst against Hon. Lai Mohammed’s review of the ongoing membership registration and revalidation exercise in Kwara State.

It would be recalled Chief Wole Oke had thrown diatribes at the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism for calling for the cancellation of the exercise and disbandment the Sen. John Danboi led committee.

Dr. Afolabi said “I, Prince Dr. Bolaji Afolabi, a major stakeholder/Elder in APC, Kwara State and Shao in particular, do hereby state and affirm that up till this morning 17th February, 2021, no registration materials has been brought out for use in all the Seven (7) Polling Units in Shao what was brought out were exercise books by these ‘so called registration officials’, in clear dis-regard of the guidelines for the registration exercise. This was rejected and peacefully made known to these ‘so called registration officials’ by the majority of the APC faithfuls in Shao, whom has pleased the Almighty Allah that I am leading.

“However, on the 13th February, 2021, Chief Wole-Oke led his cohorts group to the Divisional Police Office Shao, with the hoarded original registration materials to commence the registration at the Police Station. When the majority of APC faithfuls in Shao got wind of this illegal action, they went to the Police Station to stop the use of the station instead of the approved registration centres (the polling units). This was actually done after Kwara State Commissioner of Police whom we had earlier reported via a text message, had immediately replied us, also through a text message, that it is actually illegal to use Police Station as the registration centres.

“Did Wole-Oke want to now deny and claim that he was not caught at the Police Station on 13th February, 2021 registering with his groups? Why fabricating lies to justify the illegality being perpetrated? It was after this illegal use of the Police Station as the registration centres was stopped, that we were all advised to leave the station while the DPO took the custody of the materials till the next day when it shall be released to be distributed to all the 7 centres to properly commence the registration.

“Surprisingly, however, when we got to the station on Monday 17th February, 2021 the materials had already been released to Wole-Oke and his cohorts who have disappeared with same to only God knows where, and up till now the where about of the materials is only known to Wole-Oke.

“For him to now assert in his Press Release that registration materials was distributed in all the 7 registration centres, and that people that presented himself/herself were duly registered is NOT only fallacious, but actually amazed me as a person, that my dear ‘Egbon’ can at this time begin to be concocting lies, and dishing same out to deceive people.

I make bold to state categorically that the main stream of APC in Shao, are fully prepared for revalidation/registration in all the 7 designated centres in Shao, with original materials and NOT exercise books, anything short of this is NOT only illegal but also NOT acceptable.

“On 9th February, 2021, this same Wole-Oke leading others in his group wrote a petition to His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mall. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq protesting against the names of registration officers in each polling centres allegedly altered by the speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly. As from this stage Wole-Oke has been planning how to bastadise the registration guidelines because he has certain registration officers in mind who would manipulate the exercise.

” True to it, the registration officers in Shao have all disappeared with the registration materials.

As far as we (main stream of APC in Shao) are concerned, let Wole-Oke and his cohorts give the materials to even the ‘spirit’ from the ‘moon’ to come to these 7 registration centres, our people who are in clear majority will troop out to register.

“This much is known to him and that is why he is jittery because he has completely lost out, only trying to incite the Police against the main stream APC in Shao, by turning himself to the PRO of the Police in Shao. Our mobilization for registration in the entire length and breadth of Shao ward is already scaring him, thus his result to mudslinging and outright lies” he stressed.