By Mustapha Suleiman
The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Salihu Danladi, has sacked his media aide, Ibrahim Sheriff, over his role in the violent clash at a meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Ilorin on Tuesday.
Mr Sheriff said he was sacked because he rescued the former chairman of the APC in the state, Bashir Bolarinwa, from the assault of a woman supporter of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the venue of the meeting.
Aljazeerahnews gathered that violence erupted at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Ilorin, where the meeting was holding, ahead of the party’s membership registration exercise.
The APC registration and revalidation committee called the meeting to appeal for a peaceful exercise amid the protracted crisis in the party in Kwara which worsened after the removal of Mr Bolarinwa as the party chairman.
The development was a fallout of a rift between the governor, Mr AbdulRazaq and a group of party leaders, led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
Although the national and North-central leaders of the party have intervened in the rift, no solution has been found.
According to witnesses, Tuesday’s fracas started after supporters of Mr AbdulRazaq stopped Mr Bolarinwa and his supporters from entering the hall.
A female supporter of the governor reportedly charged at Mr Bolarinwa after he managed to enter the hall.
This led to an exchange of blows and throwing of chairs between the rival sets of supporters of Mr Bolarinwa and Gov. Abdurahman with many sustaining injuries while the vehicle of one of them was damaged.
Confirming his sack on Friday, Mr Sheriff said it was masterminded by “domineering government forces but added that he was yet to be officially informed.
Sheriff said he accepted the dismissal in good faith, adding that he bore no grudge against anyone.
“I particularly bear no grudge against the Governor’s aides who did not have the decency to wait an extra minute before announcing my ‘sack’. I hope they all are happy now. Now that I am moving on with my life, I pray they do too, with theirs.”
On the event of Wednesday, he said it was a test of his integrity.
Sheriff said he was at the Banquet Hall on a formal invitation of John Danboi, the Chairman of the APC Membership Registration Exercise.
“When the Caretaker Chairman of the APC, Bashir Omaja Bolarinwa, dashed in. How he came, where he came from, I would not know. But as he made for the door, a woman suddenly appeared from among the crowds, charged at him, grabbed his shirts and locked it. It was all obvious that the woman was on a mission, either to kill BOB or strip him naked. Every person with good conscience had to come to BOB’s rescue. Everybody forgot party affiliations at that moment to do what we felt was right and moral. And we did rescue him from the firm grip of the violent woman.”
He said Bolarinwa would have been killed if no one had come to his rescue on that day.
“This was the same cruel treatment meted on my friend and political ally, Olayiwola Karatu, upon his arrival at the venue of the meeting earlier before Hon. Bolarinwa. Karatu was attacked because of his alignment with Mall. Lukman Mustapha. He was wounded and lost three teeth in the process. It took efforts to rescue him from the miscreants.
“This is the part I played at the Banquet Hall, no more, no less. This is what I would have done for anybody else. I would have done same for Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq if I found him in that sorry situation. So, it was not about BOB, it was about what was right and moral, what was decent.”
He thanked his former boss for the opportunity he offered him to serve.
“To our Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, as a young man growing up, I learnt certain values. We learn to play fair. We learn not to hit people. We learn to clean up our own mess. We learn not to take what isn’t ours. And we learn to say we’re sorry when we hurt somebody. These are basic values that we learned as children. And we teach our own children these lessons. They are, in fact, the fundamental building blocks of a civil society. Without basic rules of common respect, we would experience chaos and anarchy,” he added.
