A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara State, Dr Rex Olawoye, has appealed to members of the party to remain calm and continue to work for the success of the party.
Olawoye made the appeal in Ilorin on Thursday while reacting to an Ilorin High Court judgment declaring Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani as the authentic chairman of the party in the state.
Justice T.C. Umaru in his judgment declared as unconstitutional, null and void the dissolution of the Balogun-Fulani executive.
Olawoye, who said the party had already put in place machinery to appeal the judgement, expressed confidence that true and genuine justice would be secured at the Appeal Court.
“We believe that judgement can be delivered only based on the facts placed before the court and the onus lies on the presiding judge to make his judgement.
“In this case, however, our teeming supporters and members of this great party should be rest assured that APC in Kwara State is on top of the situation and has made adequate arrangement to appeal against the judgment which will soon be heard,” Olawoye added.
He assured members of the party that the judgement had not in any way affected APC candidates whose names were submitted to INEC as was erroneously portrayed in certain quarters.
“The judgment has been erroneously interpreted to the public as affecting our candidates negatively.
“All our candidates whose names were duly submitted to INEC have nothing to do with the judgment.
“They remain our flag bearers for all the positions in the state before the INEC,” Olawoye said.
He said that Balogun-Fulani had no locus standi to institute the suit in the first place because he had been expelled from the party by the National Executive since September.
“It is an open secret in Kwara that Ishola Balogun-Fulani has been expelled by the national body of the party and by that action had ceased to be a member of the party.
“It is an irony for him to be declared as the chairman,” the party chieftain said.
He described the judgment as the beginning of a process which would terminate at the apex court.
Olawoye added that the campaigns of he party for the 2019 elections remained unhindered by the court judgment.
“We all know the antics of our common enemy who wears masks to cause political confusion in Kwara,” Olawoye added.