The suspense is about to end and the final decisions are about to be made.
For close to two years now, Kwara State APC governorship aspirants have been busy consulting and talking to the stakeholders to seek their support.
Despite the fact that the situation was filled with doubts, and lack of clarity in respect of future outcomes, the guber aspirants had been busy struggling for supremacy.
The Kwara APC guber aspirants had actively sought to secure endorsements from influential party figures.
One of the aspirants had through the ‘special support’ he enjoys, had a full grip of the party’s structure and had masterfully cultivated network of loyalists across the state by being instrumental in the emergence of a good number of the local government chairmen.
The leading opposition party in the state, the PDP, is patiently waiting in the wing and keenly observing what is happening in the APC. The party is also preparing for the upcoming elections with all its strength.
The battle for APC guber nomination is intensifying with intense intra-party battles that have created a ‘fever pitch’ atmosphere in the party.
Aspirants who had fallen over one another in the scramble for party nominations are however beginning to withdraw to their cocoons as reality has begun to set in.
It has also become clear that the party will not be choosing its candidate from the Kwara North senatorial district.
Signs that gave credence to this emerged when a leading gubernatorial aspirant from the senatorial district ,Senator Sadiq Umar suddenly had a decision-switch and picked up Senate Expression of interest and nomination forms, sources also told Team@orientactualmags.com that Speaker Yakubu Danladi has also backed out of the guber race and will be retaining his parliament seat.
It was reliably gathered that the party has taken a decision to choose its guber candidate from the Kwara Central with a top businessman, Alhaji Abdulfatahi Yahaya Seriki and Mr Dele Belgore, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, being touted as ‘possible candidate’.
It is not over until it is over, Senator Saliu Mustapha, Hon Bashir Bolarinwa have also continued to utilize contacts and have high hopes.
Interestingly, all the four people whose names are still on the lips of the people are those the president and Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq will readily describe as familiar faces.
The president is known for attaching importance to candidates’ loyalty to the party’s core values, and its leadership.
Apart from being from a prominent family, Mr Dele Belgore was also the ACN gubernatorial candidate in the 2011 governorship election. He also had close relationship with the president as governor of Lagos State through his then Chief of Staff, Mr Babatunde Fashola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The top lawyer had like Governor Abdulrazaq did in 2019 and eventually got party nomination not shown interest in declaration ceremony or elaborate events but had rather been busy utilizing contacts and getting in touch with the stakeholders.
His supporters argued that the party had already sold his candidacy to the people of the state in 2011 and it will therefore be easy to once again, market his candidacy to them.
One of the guber aspirants, Hon Bashir Bolarinwa also served as councilor, local government chairman and a member of the House of Representatives in Lagos State before changing ‘base’ while Alhaji Abdulfatahi Yahaya Seriki was a gubernatorial aspirant in 2018 and he not only allowed party supremacy to prevail when the party leaders chose Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as the guber candidate but also gave him needed support and served as the Director of his campaign organization in Kwara Central.
The business mogul and philanthropist, also remained in the party after losing Senate nomination in 2022 despite the overtures made to him by the opposition camp.
He is also a close friend of Mr Seyi Tinubu, son of the president.
Unlike what happened in 2019, Alhaji Yahaya Seriki has this time around made it clear through his actions that he really means business and he has given it all it takes which has shown a remarkable comeback for his governorship bid.
Senator Saliu Mustapha, the Turaki of Ilorin, has also had an excellent relationship with President Bola Tinubu for close to two decades.
He and Alhaji Buba Galadima had represented the late General Muhammadu Buhari’s group at all the meetings held with the AC and ACN leaders ahead of the 2007 and 2011 presidential elections with a view to working together to wrestle power from the PDP.
As the Deputy National Chairman of the party, he had also signed on behalf of the CPC when final decisions were made to merge the party, AC, ANPP and others together in 2013.
Sources told Team@orientactualmags.com that a clear and definitive decision has been taken on the senatorial district that will produce the party’s guber candidate and the party has settled for Kwara Central while supporters of Hon Bashir Bolarinwa however said he is still in the race.
Signs that this may be a lame argument emerged when a guber aspirant from the senatorial district, Senator Lola Ashiru abandoned his gubernatorial ambition and joined the Senate race with ‘legislative fortitude’ ,
What is however clear is that Kwara North is no longer under consideration and Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq who had through his ‘body language’ promoted the ‘Kwara North lokan’ campaign, has apparently abandoned the ship having discovered that the vessel cannot be saved.
Social media users in the state and political pundits maintained an agreeable tone on Thursday that Kwara Central will produce the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
Professor Wale Sulaiman’s decision to hold a declaration ceremony in Ilorin on Thursday however placed a cloud of uncertainty over this assertion considering his relationship with the pioneer National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande.
He asserted that no ‘consensus candidate’ has been chosen and declared that he is still in the race.
‘I want to let the public know that no consensus candidate has been chosen. The process of choosing a candidate is very clearly defined in the constitution of our great party and in the Electoral Act.
For a consensus candidate to emerge, all the co-aspirants must sign a letter of undertaking that they are withdrawing from the race. Not just that, they must also endorse the consensus candidate. If otherwise, direct primary is the remaining option’ he submitted.
It was also gathered that President Bola Tinubu had while in France only granted audience to those who were part of his delegation and will be taking a definitive decision on matters that have to do with Kwara State APC when he returns to the country which may include having a meeting with stakeholders from the state.
Sources told our reporter that producing a consensus candidate would have been easy if that had been done before the guber aspirants resigned from their positions and obtained expression of interest and nomination forms.
‘Who will convene the meeting where such an issue will be discussed? Who will ask someone who has resigned from his position to seek party nomination to back out of the race?
It is not easy to do that. It is only the president who can meet with the stakeholders and direct those who have resigned to return to their respective positions and also possibly ask the party to refund them like it was done after the 2018 gubernatorial primary election when the aspirants got half of the money they had paid.
They may however do what was done in Ekiti and Osun states earlier in the year by disqualifying all of them except two people that will be left to compete for party nomination.
And usually one will be a strong aspirant and the other a very weak aspirant who is amenable and will readily support the party’s consensus candidate’ said a source-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 08035023079, 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
