Date: 2015-01-30

There is a raging war between the Federal and Kwara State governments over alleged neglect of the state by President Goodluck Jonathan's administration as election draws near.

The defection of former Governor Bukola Saraki and his predecessor, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), precipitated a frosty relationship between the Kwara State Government and the Presidency.

The faceoff was heightened by President Goodluck Jonathan's declaration that Kwara would be recaptured by the PDP in the 2015 elections.

Like other PDP controlled states where the governors changed political platforms, Kwara has equally been in a running battle with the Presidency and the PDP leadership. They present injustices in the party as the main reason behind their defections.

Having dumped the PDP for the mega opposition party, the state government and the leadership of the APC controlled by former Governor Saraki and the scion of the Saraki dynasty in Kwara State pronounced death sentence on the PDP in the state. The government did not only accuse the party of injustice, it consistently blamed the ruling PDP of failure to satisfy its interest and that of the people of the state.

Moreover, the duo's defection had concomitantly sparked a restructuring of the PDP with hitherto passive members and those who chose to stay put in the party after the defection regrouping and calling the bluff of the defectors, saying good riddance to bad rubbish.

The newly reorganised PDP in the state which recently elected Senator Simeon Sule Ajibola, the current senator representing Kwara South in the National Assembly as its governorship candidate, has therefore vowed to dislodge the ruling APC in the state in the February 28 gubernatorial polls.

In retrospect, Saraki, a serving senator, was one of the most powerful friends of the presidency during late Umar Yar'Adua's era especially as chairman of the now factionalised Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF). As chairman of the forum, he was able to pilot the affairs of the group and position it as a formidable body with unmatched influence in the affairs of the Nigerian state. Such relevance is no longer palpable in the Nigerian polity as the forum plummeted as a result of the factionalisation of the group.

Saraki has openly criticised the federal government even as he consistently emphasised that his current critical stance against the government was not borne out of altruistic motive. The senator has serially been lamenting that the ship of the nation is not being properly piloted by the present leadership.

APC, which recently commenced its campaign for the re-election of Governor Ahmed and its other candidates, has consistently stated that the federal government under President Jonathan cannot point at any major project he commissioned in the state.

During his ongoing campaign, Ahmed stated that the PDP-controlled federal government has failed Kwarans as it has no tangible achievements to boast of in the state, pointing out that lack of federal government presence in the state in terms of the provision and development of infrastructure has become well pronounced in the last six years of the Jonathan presidency.

Ahmed's political mentor, Saraki also spoke in similar vein, saying that the present administration has failed to develop the state in the last six years, recalling that the last project commissioned in the state was the Ganmo Power project executed by the late President Umaru Yar'adua.

While urging the electorate in the state to reject the PDP and its presidential candidate, Saraki said the people should support the APC whose presidential candidate, Muhammad Buhari, hails from the same state with the late former president.

"It was the administration of Yar'adua that did something for Kwara. Since Jonathan came there is nothing and we are glad that the APC candidate is also from Katsina State like Yar'adua who had in his lifetime always desired that Kwara and Katsina will work together," he said.

Saraki recalled that as a governor, he was able to record successes under the PDP because the administration of late president Yar'adua, was not corrupt like Jonathan's.

"All the money that should be going to states for developments is being stolen by those in Abuja and that is why we are in this situation today. The achievements we were able to record in the state while I was governor were done during the administration of late President Umar Musa Yar'adua," the ex-governor recalled.

However, the PDP presidential campaign had a stopover in Ilorin, the state capital, where the PDP leaders disputed the claims by the state government that the federal government had not done anything for the state.

To present the PDP's concern for the state, Director-General of the Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Ahmadu Ali who paid homage to the late strongman of Kwara politics, Olusola Saraki, whom he said "lived and died as a PDP member" stated that the only good thing done in Kwara State were by PDP government. Minister of National Planning Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman who hails from the same ward with Saraki highlighted the achievements of the federal government in the state, saying the administration of President Jonathan had implemented several projects in the state.

Among the projects he listed were re-modeling of Ilorin International Airport and expansion of cargo terminal, dualisatin of Ibadan/Ilorin section II, expansion of Oko Olowo Igbeti road; expansion of UITH permanent site; rehabilitation and expansion of Ilorin Jebba/Mokwa road; and rehabilitation of rail line from Lagos to Kano through Ilorin.

Others are construction of export crops handling preservation and conditioning centre at Ilorin; construction of small-scale garri and cassava agro processing plant at Omu Aran, Irepodun LG, among others.

The minister who noted that the federal government had continuously fulfilled its monthly financial obligations to the state, however, challenged the state government to account for what it had done with the monthly allocation and other interventions.

At an interactive session with journalists after the meeting, Sulaiman said, "the federal government in spite of difference in parties is still meeting its obligations in assisting most of the institutions in Kwara State. In spite of that, they still believe government is not doing anything.

"I am saying it, I am repeating myself and I am saying that I should be quoted anywhere, corruption is pervasive, corruption is everywhere in Kwara State," he said.

The present scenario is unprecedented in the history of the State of Harmony, a state with a rich political history popularised by the late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki.

Analysts say the fact that the state has often been in the mainstream has made the present politicking in the state unusual.

It is also a test of the capacity of the Saraki-led APC leadership to defeat the federal government, as the two have drawn a battle line.