With the threat in the way of the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed's second term bid, his kinsmen from the South senatorial district, who reside in Lagos, have resorted to an alternative mobilsation drive to facilitate his re-election. Shola Oyeyipo writes

Going by the provisional result of the 2006 population and housing census published in the federal government official gazette Number 4, Volume 94 of January 19, 2007, which final result was published in gazette Number 2, Volume 96 of February 2, 2009, Kwara State has a total population of 2,365,353.

A further breakdown of the number into senatorial districts shows that Kwara Central with four local government areas has a total of 905,819; Kwara North with its five local government areas accommodates 751,903 and Kwara South, which boasts of seven local government areas follows with 706,848 population strength.

In terms of electoral strength, Kwara South at a point contributed about 44 per cent of the total votes cast in the state but as time went on, it declined to 26 per cent, due to the continuous increase in the number of people from the zone who seek greener pastures in other parts of the country, particularly in Lagos State.

Hence, Kwara Central has conveniently dominated the governorship seat in the state since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999. Former governor, Senator Bukola Saraki hails from Kwara Central senatorial district and was at the helms of affairs for eight years between 2003 and 2011.

His predecessor, the late governor Muhammed Lawal, also from the same zone was governor for four years between 1999 and 2003. It took a sustained agitation and threat to support the opposition APC then by the people in Kwara South to get Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed the PDP ticket in 2011.

The reason for this is obvious. Kwara Central produces bulk vote that easily secures electoral victory for the zone's preferred candidate. That explains the mindset of the proponents of the idea that Governor Ahmed should spend a term to give way to a Kwara Central or Kwara North candidate, to put the All Progressives Congress party in good standing against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which would most likely pick its candidate from Kwara Central.

That calculation is not going down well with the people of the Kwara South. They are of the opinion that the zone could take actions that would give it a voting strength and pave the way for it to hold on to the governorship. Small wonder, stakeholders from the zone, who are resident in Lagos State have been brainstorming on ways to ensure that the zone harnesses its high population in Lagos to boost the district's electoral strength as a way to retain the governorship seat beyond 2015.

As a part of such an initiative, notable personalities from the state drawn from all walks of life recently converged on the Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos where they unanimously echoed the quest of the district to ensure Ahmed's re-election.

Though not necessarily a partisan gathering, however because the incumbent who was a member of the PDP had defected to the APC, the mission focused more on the ruling party, which the people would want to return the governor as its candidate while they opt to work to garner massive votes to re-elect him at the polls.

Speaking during his welcome address, the Kwara APC chairman, Lagos State branch, Mr. Amolegbe Fattah, said the gathering was necessitated by the urgent need for the people to work together, irrespective of party affiliation, in the interest of the district. "The fact that we are in a political dispensation demands that we need a political platform to achieve our vision. We sincerely implore Kwara South indigenes in other parties to pursue the same agenda on the platform of their different parties.

"We appeal to all and sundry to drop emotions and negative feelings for us to treat issues for the betterment of all. Where and when our individual interests conflict with our collective interests, the latter must prevail," he urged the people.

As part of measures to actualising their ambition, various speakers at the event agreed to leverage the population strength of the district by embarking on massive mobilisation of Kwara South indigenes in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria to go back to the state to obtain the permanent voters' card ahead of the election.

The communiqué issued at the end of the event which attracted the likes of the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Demola Banu, Alhaji Subaru Ajirotutu, Dr. Ademola Adewara, Chief Samuel Olu Alabi, Chief Omotayo Ajikobi, Chief Aminu Oseni, Chief Bode Anifaloyin, Alhaji Raimi Ajulopin, Hon. Taiwo Bello, Chief Jide Afolayan, Raphael Adetiba, Alhaji Oyin Zubaru, Mr. Victor Kolade and Mr. Tunji Olawuyi, charged all public office holders of Kwara origin in Lagos State and representatives of the different communities from Kwara South senatorial district in Lagos, to be politically savvy and contribute their quota to the retention of the governor.

The points raised in the document includes: "Kwarans in Lagos should go home for the voters' registration exercise; there is need for serious preparation by Kwara South people in Lagos for the voter's registration exercise and the 2015 elections; awareness and mobilisation must be undertaken in the different Kwara South communities in Lagos for both programmes.