2009 ‘Donation Competition’ Reenacted As Intraparty Power Struggle In Kwara APC Comes Into The Open
Considering what took place at the forecourt of the Emir of Ilorin’s palace on Wednesday, December 25, 2024, it has somewhat become clear that predictions made by political pundits that Kwara State APC will be on ‘a rocky road’ ahead of the 2027 General Election has actually begun to come to pass.
Sources told Team@orientactualmags.com that what has been a serious bone of contention is ‘who should get what’ in the next political dispensation.
The next gubernatorial election in the state will hold in 2027, and for the politicians, 2027 is not far away, it is actually almost here, and they have already begun to fall over one another in the scramble for party nominations.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who became the Chief Executive of the State of Harmony on May 29, 2019, will be completing his second term on May 29, 2027, and he will no longer seek to remain the occupant of the Government House, Ilorin..
This has therefore increased the number of people eyeing the number one seat, aiming to be in driver’s seat and control the affairs of the state in the next dispensation.
Majority of the current political office holders in the state are also seeking to get higher positions and meetings are already being held to enhance their chances.
All eyes are now turned to the APC and the party already has a long list of aspirants.
Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon Yakubu Salihu Danladi has surfaced as a leading guber aspirant apparently because he reportedly enjoys the support of the ‘Government House’, majority of the state lawmakers have also made themselves available as foot soldiers who are promoting his governorship ambition.
An instance of this is the Kwara South summit ostensibly aimed at promoting Speaker Danladi’s guber ambition which has 8 out of the10 lawmakers from the Kwara South pledging support for the ‘controversial’ programme.
The recent APC local government primary elections also served as a platform to boost the Speaker’s governorship bid as his loyalists emerged as APC chairmanship candidates in the whole Kwara North and a few outside Kwara North including Irepodun local government
Senator Salihu Mustapha, who represents Kwara Central in the senate, has been at the centre of attention, and he is actually between the devil and the deep blue sea. The senator, who is the Turaki of Ilorin, is a new member of the senate, who is ordinarily expected to show interest in retaining his parliament seat, and he is also believed to be one of the APC guber aspirants.
Governor AbdulRazaq and the senator are longtime ‘political friends’ ,Salihu as the Deputy National Chairman of CPC, had stopped former Senator Gbemisola Saraki from getting the CPC guber nomination in 2011 and rather placed this on the governor’s laps.
He had also refused to institute a legal action after the outcome of the guber primary election in 2018.
The governor has however reciprocated this by ensuring the senator’s victory in the Kwara Cental APC Senate primary election in 2022, to the annoyance of Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe and Hon Yahaya Seriki.
This had made relationship between the governor and Oloriegbe become frosty ditto Alhaji Yahaya Seriki.
The 59th Annual Conference of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union, (IEDPU) held in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Wednesday made the infighting in the state APC come into the open.
Ilorin emirate comprises 5 local governments; Ilorin South, Ilorin East, Ilorin West, Asa and Moro .
It has the largest population in the state and also hosts the state capital, the people of the city therefore have a bigger say and a bigger voice with respect to who becomes the governor of the state unless the Kwara North teams up with the Kwara South and also splits the votes in Kwara Central.
Prominent indigenes of Ilorin especially the political office holders do attach importance to the Annual Conference of the IEDPU and the 2024 edition was no exception.
An illustrious son of Ilorin, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who is the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, not only attended the event but actually took centre stage.
Signs that there would be an attempt to score ‘political points’ emerged a day to the event as a popular socialite and a businessman, Alhaji Yahaya Seriki, who was invited as Chief Launcher, began to grab headline after headline and many were quick to say, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau’.
The infighting in Kwara State APC was as a result of the battle for political control of the State of Harmony and the interesting situation was an opportunity to reenact the ‘donation competition’ that was recorded right at the same location 15 years ago, and the IEDPU made good use of this and got a lot of money.
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Alhaji Yahaya Seriki made a valuable contribution by donating the sum of N100 million while Senator Saliu Mustapha, who sent Alhaji Razaq Adio as his representative, announced the donation of N25 million and also disclosed plans to build a 500million pavilion for the emirate.
Team@orientactualmags.com gathered that Senator Saliu Mustapha was invited as guest of honour.
What would be regarded as a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances was what took place later in the day as billboards erected by Senator Mustapha were taken down.
Recall that a ‘donation competition’ that took place at the same venue on Friday, June 19, 2009, had two billionaires; Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Chief Femi Otedola as dramatis personae.
It was the 1.5 billion naira fundraising ceremony for the rehabilitation, refurbishing and expansion of the Ilorin Central mosque and the personality that earned a thunderous ovation at the event was Chief Femi Otedola.
Dangote and Otedola were then not having a good relationship, and everybody had waited eagerly to know what their respective donations would be.
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Otedola, who had then apparently avoided eye contact with his then estranged friend, stayed away from the event while Dangote was present.
The drama began with Alhaji Aliko Dangote announcing the donation of N75 million naira and he left almost immediately while Otedola’s representative took to the podium to announce the donation of N80 million
The attendees got the ‘message’ and for more than five minutes, the chants of ‘Alahu Akbar’ rented the air.
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The event had dignitaries and top Nigerians in attendance, which include Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Gwandu, Emir of Damaturu, Emir of Ilorin, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Dimeji Bankole, the then Minister for Special Duties, Ibrahim Kazaure, who represented President Umaru Yaradua and late Alhaji Arisekola Alao-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
