OPINION - 2015: Kwara PDP, Belgore and the unseen hands. By Abdullahi Ishaq

Date: 2014-11-27

Over the past few weeks, the online media platform and a section of the print media have been awash with so much noise about the probable implosion of the PDP in Kwara ahead of the 2015 elections.

The argument for this prediction has been in two fold. One, they made so much noise about the 'many governorship aspirants' in the party with the fear that many of those aspirants might quit the party in the event that they fail to get the party's ticket. Two, and this is very recent, is the narrative that Mohammed Dele Belgore SAN has been anointed to fly the party's governorship ticket. It is being alleged that delegates list - which emanated from a delegate election on November 1 - is being manipulated by Hajiah Bola Shagaya and Belgore ahead of the governorship poll.

In one of the articles promoting this narrative, it is alleged that Belgore got no more than 30 of the over 500 delegates in the recently held delegates election in Kwara PDP. And for this reason, according to the article apparently sponsored by some persons, Belgore is now trying to change the 'original' delegates list to favour him.

But this later narrative could only be bought by intellectually lazy followers of the state politics. That is because it defies common sense and flies in the face of the happenings in the state. Here is why I said so. The PDP delegates election was held in Kwara on November 1. Going by media reports the next day, November 2, some governorship aspirants (excluding Belgore) were already complaining about the process and possible outcome. From this complaints, it is safe to conclude that these aspirants were not comfortable with the process/conducts and possible outcome from the day it was held. With representatives of these aspirants on the field, it is safe to conclude that their complaints meant that they lost out at that election.

Belgore, on the other hand, issued a statement on the next day of that same delegate election (November 2) commending the process, conduct and possible outcome of that same delegates' election. Like other aspirants, Belgore too must have had his men on the field from whom he must have known where he stood. It is also safe to conclude that reports from the field showed him in good place and that informed the tone of his statement. And this writer has followed activities in the camp of these aspirants and truth is none of them commands the sort of quality followership behind the senior lawyer: north, south and central. From his defection sometime in February to the last Eid-al-Adha get-together, it was obvious he's the aspirant to beat! The quality of representation across the state, from what I saw on NTA Ilorin, said it all.

So, the complaints of those aspirants and Belgore's commendation of the exercise naturally implied that the former lost out at the exercise while the latter made huge gains. If we proceed from this logical background, the allegations that Belgore is now seeking to change the same delegates list that emerged from the same election that he had commended and that other aspirants had condemned are very strange and illogical. The only logical allegation would have been Belgore alleging that the list of delegates who emerged from that election (whose conduct he had commended) is being doctored or manipulated.

From the above, I suspect that the noise about anyone trying to change delegates' list for Belgore is an illogical afterthought being promoted by either of two categories of people. One, aspirants who have lost out and just needed to say just anything to explain to their followers why they lost. Two, I am afraid that the Belgore-is-being-imposed narrative is being fuelled and actively promoted in the media by the APC in connivance with their moles within the PDP who, seeing that they may be failing in their plots to stop Belgore emerging as the PDP candidate, need to sell the argument that the senior advocate is a product of imposition. We must recall the deafening noise the APC continues to make about Belgore. Of all the aspirants in the PDP, they have continued to raise issues about the senior lawyer, beginning from his leaving the APC. This only suggests one thing: APC is afraid of a Dele Belgore candidature.

Back to the Kwara PDP implosion theory. The noise about the many governorship aspirants and the Belgore-is-being-imposed narrative is carefully designed to give the impression that the PDP cannot win Kwara because of supposed bitterness or rivalry arising from its governorship primaries. This argument is a ploy to demoralise the Kwara electorate as well as cover up for the poor rating of Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed who an average Kwara person regards to be no more than a mere houseboy to Bukola Saraki. Some in fact call him 'Special Assistant on Government House Affairs to the Leader.'

For the record, representative democracy is known for its 'the more the merrier' mantra. It is never a bad thing to have many aspirants jostling for an elective position. It is indeed a mark of political freedom to see different people of varied backgrounds feeling free to express their intention to contest for public office. From Lagos to Kaduna, Ogun to Imo, Delta to Akwa Ibom, tens of aspirants under each of the political parties are contesting for the office of governors and nobody is making so much noise about it.

So, why is so much noise being made about many aspirants freely seeking to contest for public office in Kwara? Why is Kwara APC and its media hirelings calling such legitimate aspirations 'unbridled', 'selfish' or a 'mark of indiscipline'? The reason is simple: Kwara has been used to the very backward idea of a single man sitting somewhere and dictating where everybody must be or must not be. This practice is evil and must end.

Those making noise about the many aspirants in PDP are therefore of two categories: those who innocently are so used to the idea of 'the leader has spoken' and everyone must follow. And of course the very people who benefit from such evil system.

The first category needs massive reorientation to know what representative democracy is. Maybe the PDP would do itself a world of good to take up this task. The second (category) must be resisted by all means necessary and lawful. Their idea of politics constitutes grievous threats to representative democracy.

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

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

Kamaldeen Ajibade     Adeola Abraham     Abdulrasheed Akogun     Trader Moni     Ojo Fadumila     Bolaji Aladie     Lola Olabayo     Standard Organization Of Nigeria     Hajj     Innocent Okoye     Oke-Oyi     Laduba     Emmanuel Bello     Funmilayo Isiaka Oniwa     Babata     Toyin Saraki     Adisa Logun     March 28     Bukola Ajikobi     Village Alive Development Association     Olomu     Kwara     Ethical College     Saliu Mustapha     Leke Ogungbe     ITP     Igbomina     Tunde Saad     Kwara Restoration Project     Oro Grammar School     Kwara State Internal Revenue Service     Aremu Odolaye     Abdulwahab Ololele     C2c@kwarastate.gov.ng     Kola Ologbondiyan     Yakubu Gobir     African Democratic Congress     Abdullah Janet Amudat     Smart School     Abatemi-Usman     David Oyedepo     Akeem Olatunji     Ibrahim Jawondo     Isiaka Alikinla     Egbejila     Tanke Flyover Bridge     Eleja     Ramadan     Labaeka     Ibrahim Bio     Ilota     Oyin-Zubair     Students Union Government     BIR     Radio Kwara     Ahmed \'Lateef     Kamoru Kadiri     Ayekale     LAK Jimoh     Musbau A. Akanji     Tafida     Ahmed Saidu Rufai     High Court     Post-utme     Saka Onimago     College Of Health     Joseph Daudu     Olatunde Olukoya     Ita-Nmo Market     Ganmo Electricity Sub-Station     Saka Saadu     Saadu Gbogbo Iwe     Muhammad Ghali Alaaya     Kwara State Government     Kwara State University Of Education     Eleja Taiwo Banu     Yomi Ogunsola    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

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

Sulu Babaita Isiaka     Yusuf Lanre Badmus     The Herald     All Peoples Party     Adesina Simon Sodiya     Emir Of Shonga     Solomon Edoja     Awwal Jawondo     Olaiya Victor Mobolaji     Akom Construction And Engineering Synergy Ltd     Fatai Adeniyi Garba     Isiaka Gold     Mohammed Jimoh Faworaja     IF-K     Otunba Taiwo Joseph     Falokun-Oja     Ajibike Katibi     Sidikat Alaya     Facemasks     AbdulQowiy Olododo     Air Peace     Iyiola Oyedepo     Adamu Jemilat-Baki     Valsolar     Ilorin East     Tinubu     Offa Poly     Oke-Ogun     Abdulrosheed Okiki     Saad Belgore     Christian Association Of Nigeria     Hijab     Suleiman Rotimi Iliasu     Sherif Sagaya     Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia     Lithium Deposit     Oyawoye     Okin Malt     Ayinde Oki     Ilota     Femi Gbajabiamila     National Information Technology Development Agency     Adeleke Ogungbe     Deji Ajani     NTA Ilorin     Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa     Assayomo     Isiaka Alikinla     Binta Abubakar-Mora     Abubakar Imam     Dele Momodu     Erubu Oba Zubair     Okasanmi Ajayi     AGM Professional Services     Jebba     Na\'Allah     Senate President     Afusat Nike Ibrahim     Countryside Emerging Leaders Fellowship     Fatima Abolore Jimoh     Council Of The Wise     Bibire Ajape     Police Commissioner     Yakubu Mohammed Abdullahi     Jimoh Saadudeen Muhammed     Colleges Of Education Academic Staff Union     Saheed Akinwumi     Baruten     UNILORIN Alumni     Sheikh Hamzat Yusuf Ariyibi     Societe Generale Bank Of Nigeria     Isiaka Oniwa     Abdullahi Biffo     Unilorin FM     Abdulquawiy Olododo     Towobola Abdulrahman Toyin     KSIRS