Resurfaced Video: Saheed Popoola Reveals How Benjamin Ezekiel Narrowly Missed Kwara Deputy Governorship Slot
An old video clip featuring the Kwara South PDP senate candidate, Hon Saheed Popoola has resurfaced on social media, casting people’s minds back to the intense political maneuvering within the state APC ahead of the 2019 general election.
In the video in question which gained traction on TikTok over the weekend, Hon Popoola recounted how a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Benjamin Ezekiel, came remarkably close to emerging as Deputy Governor.
Team@orientactualmags.com reports that Hon Popoola, a former state lawmaker and former chairman of Offa Local Government, originally shared these insights during an appearance on Diamond FM’s popular Yoruba programme, ‘Eba wa dasi’.
Hon Popoola noted that the political drama began after he secured the APC House of Representatives nomination for Offa/Oyun/Ifelodun federal constituency, while Senator Lola Ashiru had gotten nominated for senate.
Stakeholders had quickly argued that it was politically unsustainable for Offa to hold both the senate and reps slots simultaneously and to demonstrate loyalty to his long-time mentor, Hon Popoola noted that he had chosen to step down. He explained that having served Ashiru for a decade, he had refused to become a stumbling block to his ambition and this decision had left the senate nomination with his former boss while he forfeited his reps nomination.
This strategic withdrawal, he noted, caught the attention of Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who was then the APC governorship candidate and he had questioned his decision, revealing that his original blueprint was to have former Senator Makanjuola Ajadi run for Senate while he (Popoola) will go for the reps seat.
To compensate for the shift, Governor AbdulRazaq promised Popoola an Assembly nomination with a pathway to becoming the Speaker of the House of Assembly. Following high-level interventions by party leaders in Abuja, a consensus arrangement was finalized and a pseudo primary was held at the office of the National Chairman after Senator Ashiru had paid the necessary ₦1 million nomination fees.
Hon Popoola disclosed that he initially hesitated to accept the Assembly slot because he had already endorsed another aspirant, Hon. Oguniyi Adato, and feared that the sudden U-turn would shock his supporters.
The revelation regarding Hon Benjamin Ezekiel emerged when Popoola learned that the then governorship candidate was scouting for a running mate from Kwara South, holding AbdulRazaq to his word about the Speakership, the former state lawmaker said he had advised him that it was politically imperative to balance the governorship ticket by choosing a Deputy Governor from Kwara North instead.
Mallam Abdulrazaq, the Sardauna of Ilorin, had then asked him to suggest names, and he had recommended Hon. Benjamin Ezekiel. However, the governor quipped that Ezekiel had already rejected the offer.
Hon Popoola added that he had sought Abdulrazaq’s permission to verify this with the former Speaker. When questioned, Ezekeil had explained that he had made that statement before the gubernatorial primary because he was supporting Professor Oba Abdulraheem’s candidacy, and therefore could not have accepted a role as another candidate’s running mate.
Following the sweeping victory of the APC in the 2019 general election, Hobn Popoola said the governor eventually settled on Hon. Salihu Yakubu Danladi as Speaker and rather than getting angry and rocking the boat, he had accepted his fate and even went on to nominate him (Speaker Salihu Yakubu Danladi) on the floor of the House of Assembly-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
