In this write-up, SUCCESS NWOGU X-rays the emerging political scenario in Kwara State as Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed declares his ambition to vie for a second term in office

After a period of speculations, Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, last week, threw his hat into the ring by making a public declaration of his intention to run for a second term in office on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. No doubt a frontrunner in the buildup to the election, Ahmed’s entry into the race has thrown up political permutations and conjectures within and outside the ruling party. Being the incumbent governor, whose party is poised to stretch its political grip on Kwara State for four more years, Ahmed knows the odds against his political dream.

The governor, who has the political goodwill of his benefactor and leader of the party in the state, Senator Bukola Saraki, is upbeat about his chances in securing another term to consolidate his first term achievements. All roads practically led to Metropolitan Square, Asa Dam, Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, where Ahmed’s declaration attracted stalwarts of the APC from far and near. They included a former Head of State and APC presidential aspirant, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; a former Vice President and APC presidential aspirant, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku; another APC presidential aspirant, who is currently the Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso; APC national leader and a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Senator Saraki; Governor of Imo State and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha; Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aliyu Wammako; his Rivers State counterpart, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; Edo State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole; a member of the APC Board of Trustees, Alhaji Kawu Baraje; and a former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. They all lauded Ahmed for what they termed his superlative performance during his ongoing first term and appealed to the Kwara State electorate to re-elect him.

Although a cross-section of his supporters that trooped out to witness the declaration opined that the governor deserved a second term to complete the programmes of his administration, a number of his opponents said he did not deserve to be re-elected.

Speaking at the occasion, Saraki and Baraje said Ahmed deserved a second term, having, according to them, completed most of the projects inherited from the Saraki administration and initiated news ones while work had progressed on many ongoing ones.

Atiku, Tinubu and Kwankwaso said Ahmed had continued with the legacy of his predecessor, Saraki, who profited immensely from the tutelage and goodwill of his father, the late Dr. Olusola Saraki, popularly referred to as Oloye. Atiku, who claimed to be one of the people that witnessed and contributed in laying the foundation of Kwara's political development, said he was delighted that the state had witnessed progress and development. Kwankwaso said he was not surprised at what he termed Ahmed's great performance. Tinubu expressed the confidence that Ahmed would be re-elected. He said, "I will come back. This is just the endorsement of Governor Ahmed. He will be re-elected by the grace of God with the support of you people here and those outside there. The unemployment situation will be conquered by this APC administration. We have the vision for the security of the lives of our children."

Tambuwal said he was hopeful that the APC would floor the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, adding that the APC would continue to provide what he called quality and good leadership in the state. He stated that the political history of the state was very rich, noting that the political foundation of the state was laid by the late Oloye. Saying that the political structure of the state was ordained by God, he claimed that the structure had always delivered Kwara to the right political party. "I believe that this time, the story will not be different. With the support of the people of the state, the APC shall form 100 per cent of the government in the state from the local council to the state Assembly and to the Government House. The state has always been providing leadership in the politics of this country," Tambuwal said.

Amaechi, who said the tumultuous crowd that attended the declaration was indicative that Ahmed had performed well and was accepted by the residents of the state, urged the state's electorate to appreciate Ahmed by re-electing him. He said that Ahmed had been tested and found reliable.

Ahmed, during the declaration, reeled out a list of his achievements, which included the provision of jobs to 10, 200 youths; provision of N700m micro credits to 48, 000 small business owners and payment of tuition for primary and secondary school students even as he claimed that the students received 10 free notebooks each per session. He added that the government had rehabilitated hundreds of classrooms in primary and secondary schools across the state. The governor also said that his administration had battled the challenge posed by limited resources to create one of the best health systems in the North-Central of Nigeria by modernising and equipping five general hospitals at Ilorin, Offa, Share, Omu-Aran, and Kaiama. Ahmed also said 85,000 rural dwellers now have access to subsidised health care system through the administration's innovation of Community Health Insurance Scheme. He said 400 communities in the state were now connected to the national grid, following his administration's supply and installation of transformers. According to him, from an inherited distance of 1,500-metre radius, Kwara residents now have access to potable water within an 800-metre radius following the government's revamping of 17 waterworks and installation of about 400 boreholes across the state. In the road sector, he said his administration had not only started new infrastructure but had also broken the jinx of abandoned projects by completing most of the projects inherited from the previous administration. He stated that the government had completed key inherited roads in all the three senatorial districts, adding that the new interventions within and outside Ilorin metropolis had been completed or were at various stages of completion.

He also said his administration had leveraged on the Shonga Farm experience to create a new generation of farmers and provided more food to the people in a bid to enhance their livelihoods through agribusiness with the provision of N215m in revolving micro credits to 170 livestock farmers across the state.

"To you and the thousands of others who expressed their support privately, I make this solemn pledge: I will make your life much better, our state more prosperous and our communities safer when you give me a chance to serve you for a second term. These I commit to. These I will deliver to you, my people, by the grace of Almighty Allah," Ahmed said.

Political analysts noted that if Ahmed wins the 2015 governorship election, he would make history by following the footsteps of his predecessor, Bukola Saraki, to win a second term since Kwara State creation in 1967.

But the Chairman of the PDP in Kwara State, Mr. Iyiola Oyedepo, maintained that Ahmed's declaration was equivalent to a farewell ceremony. Speaking during the state PDP's fundraising dinner in Ilorin, he said the state had not been well governed, adding that the residents had been pauperised under Ahmed's administration. According to him, the state cannot even compare favourably with some states that were created after 1967 when Kwara was created.

He accused the state government of lacking ideas and stressed that the PDP possessed better ideas to harness and optimally manage human and material resources in the state for the common good of the residents. Oyedepo claimed that the residents were yearning for change, adding that with the massive votes of the electorate in the 2015 governorship election, which he said would be free, fair and credible, the PDP would defeat the APC.

Oyedepo said, "Once you are elected or nominated through our (PDP) congresses to bear the flag of this party, just continue to celebrate because we know that you will make it as the electorate will vote massively for the PDP. When the candidate of this party emerges, we want you to continue to celebrate with us because that will be the governor of Kwara State.

"If we also elect 24 members that will go to the House of Assembly, they should continue to rejoice because they will win. Our six House of Representatives members will also win, the same for our senators. I want to assure you that the environment is entirely suitable for change. People flood into the party every day because they are tired of where they are. They want to try an alternative and the time is ripe for such. The APC has done a farewell celebration for its governor."

Not only that Ahmed's declaration sparked controversy, the process leading to his endorsement by the APC leadership and Saraki's declaration attracted criticisms.

Reports indicated that some APC members, especially those from Kwara-North felt betrayed and unhappy over Ahmed's endorsement and may secretly work against the party. They claimed that there was an understanding before the 2011 election, when they were still in the PDP, that Ahmed, who is from the Kwara-South senatorial district, would rule for only one term while someone from Kwara-North would take over. The state PDP Publicity Secretary, Chief Rex Olawoye, said Ahmed’s endorsement had provided the PDP an ample chance to win the governorship contest. Olawoye and a PDP governorship aspirant in the state, Mr. Dele Belgore (SAN), said Ahmed’s endorsement was an imposition.

Olawoye alleged that Saraki overruled the party machinery to 'impose his godson on the party.'

He said, "Saraki, has re-enacted his autocratic, undemocratic and self-serving style of imposing the least competent and the poor-performing on the people, all in a bid to perpetuate himself in the corridors of power.

"Where else, if not in Kwara APC, is this kind of dictatorial practice adopted? What then has changed in the lives of the leaders of the APC since their defection? The answer obviously is nothing."

Belgore said Ahmed's endorsement was tyrannical, adding that the state had been subjected to misrule for a long time. According to him, it is time to liberate the people and provide good governance that will lead to human capital and infrastructural transformation in the state.

"Recently, their leader raised one person's hand and that was all. Everyone has cowered, they can no longer aspire. That is tyranny. It is not so in Kwara PDP," Belgore said.

Saraki, reacting to the criticisms, urged the PDP members to concentrate on managing their party affairs and focus on having a rancour-free primary to produce the party's governorship candidate like the APC had done. He urged the PDP to stop casting aspersions on him, the APC and the method used in choosing Ahmed.

Saraki added that his endorsement of Ahmed was an expression of his own opinion. He argued that if Ahmed's emergence was an imposition, he would have forced the state chairman of the APC, Alhaji Ishola Fulani-Balogun, and the party structure to issue a statement that they had endorsed Ahmed instead of allowing the party leaders to endorse the governor.