Ahmed's Curious Re-Election Battle

Date: 2014-08-05

The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed may have set off a subtle re-election campaign.

Although, the incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has not come out publicly to declare his intention to seek a second term, his alleged body language has since confirmed that he is more than keen about his re-election.

His kinsmen from Kwara South senatorial district have not slept for a while now as they have been consulting and mobilising various pressure groups in the senatorial district to convince the political leader of the APC in the state, Senator Bukola Saraki on the need to offer a second term ticket to their son in next year's election.

Even at the legislature, some members of the state House of Assembly, who are mainly from Kwara South, have also thrown their weight behind the second term agenda of the governor.

Recently, a group, Kwara South Consultative Forum at a press conference in Ilorin, appealed to Saraki to grant their request for a second term. The group said the present administration has worked enough to sustain the continuity agenda of the Saraki administration and should be allowed to complete the programmes in the overall interest of the Kwara people.

The group also noted that since Kwara Central senatorial district has occupied the slot for two terms during Saraki's administration, the people of Kwara South should be obliged a second term ticket through the incumbent.

Apart from this, during the just concluded Eid-el-Fitri in Ilorin, the re-election campaign posters of the governor were pasted in strategic locations in the state capital, especially on all the roads leading to the Ilorin Praying Ground. It was obviously the brainchild of the people of Kwara South.

Thus, in the bid to further ensure that the opportunity does not elude Kwara South, political office holders in the state recently formed a committee headed by the Commissioner for Finance. Alhaji Demola Banu to commence intensive enlightenment and mobilisation drive across the length and breadth of seven local government councils making up the Kwara South. The councils are Isin, Ifelodun, Oyun, Offa, Irepodun, Ekiti and Oke-Ero local governments.

Members of the group include serving commissioners, Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistant, Special Assistant, Liaison Officers, Youths coordinators among others that are from Kwara South and currently serving with the Ahmed administration

However, the development, according to THISDAY checks may not be unconnected with the current agitation from certain quarters in the state to return the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Kwara Central because the zone enjoys huge population in the state

It was also gathered that the people of Kwara Central are interested in the governorship position despite having occupied the position for twelve years - four years during the late former governor Muhammed Lawal and eight years of Saraki.

Sources close to Kwara South said the prevailing opinion in the area now especially within the APC circle is that it should be allowed to take a second shot at the office in 2015 by Alhaji Ahmed return. There are also those who believe that in the interest of equity and justice, Kwara South should have a second term at the governorship while the slot should go to the north thereafter.

In demonstration of this commitment, the political office holders from Kwara South who had formed a committee have increased their enlightenment and mobilisation drive in the state.

Though the campaign for Ahmed's second term bid was hidden under an exercise of sensitisation and mobilisation of the people of the district to come out for voters' registration exercise when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the collection of voters' permanent card for the next year's election, it is obvious now that it is not unconnected with the governor's ambition. The exercise has since taken the committee around the state including Ajase-Ipo and Offa.

During some of their visits to identified places, the group had told the people to come out and register for them to have permanent voters card and be able to elect the candidates of their choice. The group therefore seized the opportunity to explain away the achievements of the incumbent governor and the need to sustain the current leadership.

Some of the comments made by people in places visited by the group, a source said, were for the leader of the party in the state, Saraki to allow Ahmed seek a second term in office and continue to build on the legacies of the immediate past administration. But other political office holders in the two other senatorial districts of Kwara Central and North saw the agenda as divisive on the part of their colleagues from the South. Their grouse was that their colleagues from the South should have involved them in such a move since they are members of the same party and working with the same governor.

Against this development, the thinking now is that those political office holders from the South may have difficulties pushing through their agenda because the choice of the candidate of the party for the governorship will depend on the political exigency at the time, since the PDP, the major opposition party in the state is also working round the clock to unseat the APC.

But generally, the choice of who picks the APC governorship ticket rests solely on both the political leader of the party, Saraki and other stakeholders because the election of next year remains a major battle that the Saraki dynasty must win, a situation that makes the choice of the candidate critical.

Source

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Ajibike Katibi     Hajj     Salihu S. Yaru     Ahmed Dankaya     Oyedepo     Senate     Road Transport Employers Association Of Nigeria     Abdulkadir Remi Hawawu     Esinrogunjo     Idowu Aremu     Ibrahim Abikan     Erin-ile     Voices Of Tomorrow     Saadu Alanamu     IESA     Offa     Bello Taoheed Abubakar     Saadu Gbogbo Iwe     Sa\'adu Gambari     TIIDELab     YAKOOYO     Kehinde Boyede     Ibrahim Issa Jetti     Royal FM     Kunle Okeowo     Code Of Conduct Tribunal     UITH     Teachers Specific Allowance     Abdullahi Adisa Akodudu     Abubakar Abdulraheem     Turaki Of Ilorin     Quarry Royal Valley     Okala Baba     ASMAU PLAZA     Abubakar B.M     John Dara     Gbugbu     Presidential Election     Olatomiwa Williams     Ajeigbe     Saad Omo\'ya     Ola Falade     Idris Garba     Ophthalmological Society Of Nigeria     Muslim Cementary     Government High School Adeta     Senior Ibrahim Suleiman     Ella Supreme Tissue Paper     Col. Taiwo     Ajikobi     Ibrahim Mashood     SARS     Nigeria Computer Society     Kulende     Tinubu Legacy Forum     KwaraLearn     Ayegbeni     Samari     Mohammed Khadijat Kubura     Ndakene     Dorcas Afeniforo     Onilupeju Of Ilupeju     CELF     Mustapha Olanipekun     Ilorin Emirate     Plat Technologies Limited     Sulaiman Gado     Mahfouz Adedimeji     Gaa Olobi     Kazeem Oladepo     John Olajide Adedipe     Musa Ayinla Yeketi     Sa\'ad Alanamu     Ganiyu Taofiq     Mohammed Yahaya Barki     Atunwa     General Hospital, Ilorin    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Local Government Pension Board     Afolasade Opeyemi Kemi     Savannah Centre For Diplomacy, Democracy And Development     Sherif Sagaya     Senate President     Harmony Holdings     Bolakale Saka     Geri-Alimi Split Diamond Interchange     Pacify Labs     Abdullahi Atanda     Sheriff Shagaya     PPS     Muazam Nayaya     Arinola Fatimoh Lawal     CKNG     Emir Of Kano     Ayodele Kuburat Olaosebikan     Ogbondoroko     Trader Moni     Funke Adedoyin     Suleiman Abubakar     Abdul-Rahoof Bello     Kwara State Fire Service     Transition Implementation Committee     Maimunat Oloriegbe     Binta Sulyman     NFAI     Government Girls’ Day Secondary School Pakata     Abdulazeez Uthman     Lawal Olohungbebe     Gwanara     Kwara United     Abdulwaheed Musa     Alanamu     Amuda Musbau     Ilorin Water Reticulation     Oyun     Kabir Shagaya     Arandun     Esuwoye     Obayomi Azeez     Salihu Ajia     Kwara State Geographic Information Service     Share-Tsaragi     Kwara 2023     Abdulrazaq Adebayo     Jalala     Summit University     Ilorin Innovation Hub     Minimum Wage     KWASIEC     Bayo Mohammed Onimode     Ilorin Anchor Men And Women     Lawal Jimoh     Aliyu Muhammed     Danhawa     Olubukola Kifayat Adedeji     Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia     Joseph Yemi Ajayi     Isapa     Kassim Babamale     Adebayo Mohammed Kamaldeen     Ayegbeni     Oko Erin     Seni Saraki     Mary Arinde     Special Agro-industrial Processing Zone     Code Of Conduct Bureau     Ganiyu Abolarin     Revenue Court     Babajide Ajayi     Abdulraheem Olesin     Bond     Ganiyu Taofiq     Yomi Ogunsola     Allocation     Abdullahi Imam Abdullahi