Some members of the ruling APC in Ilorin Central state constituency, Kwara state, especially young people who are members of the party, have begun to take steps to present a united front against Barrister Oba Magaji , who has joined the race to replace late Hon Abubakar Magaji Olawoyin.
Hon Magaji Abubakar Olawoyin’s death on Monday 9 January 2023 had set the stage for a possible bruising battle over his replacement.
Olawoyin was not only a prominent member of the ruling APC in Kwara state but also the House Leader, Kwara state House of Assembly.
Magaji, who was until his death on Monday morning, the representative of Ilorin Central state constituency, was also seeking to retain his parliament seat this year being one of the members of the House of Assembly that had gotten nominated by the APC for the House of Assembly election scheduled to hold in March.
In the primary election that was held last year, Hon. Abubakar Olawoyin had 13 votes, Abdulrasheed Laaro Oladimeji got 2 votes, Engineer Isiaka Toyin Agaka ,Bello Munirat Bolajoko and Lawal Abimbola Monshurat had 1 vote each.
Section 33 of the 2022 electoral act says:
‘A political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute a candidate whose name has been submitted under section 29 of this act except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate.
Provided that in the case of such withdrawal or death of a candidate, the political party affected shall within 14 days of the occurrence of the event hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the commission for the election concerned’
The battle to replace Abubakar Magaji Olawoyin had since begun and those seeking to become the new Ilorin Central APC House of Assembly candidate are already taking necessary steps to get this achieved.
The deceased lawmaker’s brother, Mr Oba Magaji, a Barrister-at-law, has shown interest in becoming his replacement and he has begun to take necessary steps while asking people to put in a good word for him with the state APC bigwigs.
This had apparently produced desired results as fourteen out of the sixteen APC elders in the constituency have declared support for him.
Those supporting his candidacy were said to have argued that when Ahmed Saidu Rufai, who represented Patigi state constituency died in December 2019, his brother was named as his replacement while those opposing this line of argument had however argued forcibly that such an idea may be counterproductive this time around.
‘Yes, a member of the House of Assembly from Patigi died and his brother was named as his replacement , during Abdulfatah Ahmed administration too, a lawmaker died and his wife took over his parliament seat but what many do not know was that in the case of Ahmed Saidu Rufai , the state lawmakers had shortly before his death gotten 40 million naira loan each and it was argued that only his brother can take care of the large family that he left behind but considering the timing, such an idea cannot be contemplated this time around’ one of the party members said.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned it had been a feeling of resentment and indignation for young members of the party and they have accused the party leaders of allowing personal interest to get placed above that of the party.
They had since begun to grumble over plans to name Mr. Oba Magaji as his brother’s replacement and the tempo of the ‘rumblings of annoyance’ had continued to increase, sources told Team@orientactualmags.com on Sunday that the grumbling has the potential to grow into a roar.
A young member of the party , who spoke on condition of anonymity, urged those that matter in the party to tread cautiously with regard to the decision on who should get named as Olawoyin’s replacement.
‘We are having a general election in February and March; our party had been divided along three primordial lines in the constituency with late Olawoyin leading one of the groups.
It was not that Olawoyin was a popular candidate unless we want to deceive ourselves and now, we have to seek a replacement, we must handle the issue with caution.
We have some wards that are yet to have anyone occupying an appointive or elective position like Warah Osin, Oko-Erin and the number of voters there cannot be ignored so these are important factors to be considered.
For our leaders to even toy with the idea of naming a replacement from the same family is quite disappointing.
Majority of them are only interested in their pockets and not about us winning the elections in February and March, this is very unfortunate’ she sighed dejectedly- Team@orientactualmags.com
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