On September 8, I read an article titled "Why ACN Failed in Kwara" on an online portal, Ilorin.info. It is an interesting piece by one Abdulrazzaq Hamzat. I called it an interesting piece not because I agree with him but because it unwittingly helps to promote the cause he sought to trample. The writer, in trying to explain why he felt the ACN lost on account of pre-election issues of who flies its governorship banner, helps the party to tell the world some inspiring and reassuring things about it. And that includes the fact that the party has remained with the people of Kwara State after the 2011 election and the attendant legal battles which ended up at the Supreme Court. Thanks to ACN (though I have my worries for its national leadership), Kwarans now have alternative view on almost every issue of governance. Thanks to ACN again, the PDP Government and the leadership of the party now answer to the people on controversial issues unlike before. The activities and outspokenness of the opposition party, for the first time in the recent political history of the state, now embolden the people to demand accountability. Except at election times, who dare issue statements challenging whatever actions or inactions of the Saraki political clan? That happens almost every week in Kwara now. We should thank ACN for that. Perhaps we should thank young patriotic Kwarans who are also doing their bits online. I add here that ACN needs to do more.

In trying to diminish the ACN or, as it seems to me, its governorship candidate Mohammed Dele Belgore SAN, Hamza did unintended but great harm to those he probably sought to defend and these people include Hajia Bilkisu Gambari, Arch Lola Ashiru, Alhaj Abdulrazzak Abdurrahman and others he did not mention such as Elder Wole Oke and some of his followers at TKP (The Kwara Patriot). The harm he did to them is to make Kwarans remember them either as election-time politicians or some ethno-centric fellows feigning patriotism and love for accountability. Until a few days ago when he issued a feeble statement in support of PDP on Offa LG crisis, nobody has heard of Lola Ashiru since he lost the Kwara South senatorial election on the platform of ACPN (the Elder Saraki’s party). Oh I think he also jumped ship from ACPN to PDP. That way, Hamza has made people to see why Ashiru could not be trusted with the destiny of a long-suffering people. Also, nobody has heard from Ms Gambari since she lost her senatorial election on the platform of CPC. Maybe she would again emerge from the blues and seek another elective post in 2015. Same goes for Abdurrahman. Nothing has been heard from him since the 2011 general election. Same for Gbenga Olawepo of DPP.

And when last did you hear anything from Elder Wole Oke and his TKP? They were yesterday’s critics of corruption and nepotism of Saraki-inspired governments in Kwara. Truth is they were never strong members of any political party – just some critics reportedly seeking transparent government devoid of Saraki’s alleged "corruption, nepotism, slavery and winner-takes-all syndrome." But since they declared for PDP months before the 2011 governorship on account of former Governor Bukola Saraki ceding the PDP governorship slot to Kwara South, nobody has heard from these self-styled vanguards of good governance and defender of common men. Does this silence means high-profile frauds and fictitious dealings no longer take place in Kwara State under Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed? Quite a lot of issues that hitherto drew their attention (revelations such as how Saraki Jnr allegedly used the state’s fund to rescue private investments or the Ahmed government borrowing N10b to fund same projects Saraki Jnr already raised N17b to do) have come up but nobody heard from them. Hamza’s reference to them reminds the people of who these people truly are: some ethno-centric fellows out to feather their own nests!

Hamza did mention the ambition of Kale Belgore. But the snag to ACN picking Kale would be that he was once a Saraki follower. Also, I know that as at the time he was seeking ACN’s ticket he had one leg in PDP and one leg in ACN. No serious political party would present him to voters seeking a clean break from sarakiism.

To be candid, this article is not a response to Hamza’s piece or a defence for ACN as a party. And I regret that his article ended up painting the individuals above in bad light in the imagination of deep-thinking fellows who know that one terrible problem with the struggle to emancipate Kwara has been the inconsistency of its opposition figures. This article is therefore in defence of my choice at the Kwara governorship election: MD Belgore SAN.

I did not have any dilemma choosing who to vote for in 2011. And I’m sure not many educated or true lovers of Kwara had any dilemma choosing who to vote for. The only dilemma I had was whether or not to vote and that, in my opinion, depended on whoever the opposition ACN was presenting. Therefore when the party presented the senior advocate I resolved he was getting my lone vote. My reasons for choosing him then are the same reasons I would vote him any day, if he is presented again in 2015 and if I am alive then. Let me make clear at this point that I am from Kwara South but I never believed one minute in ethno-religious or regional candidate, the same reason I cast my presidential vote for General Muhammadu Buhari. I would go with anybody with history of zero tolerance for corruption and untainted personal achievements.

Before I proceed, Hamza said something about ACN leadership picking Belgore because he comes from Ilorin, the largest voting bloc in Kwara, and is from the respected aristocratic family. I should state here that Belgore could have lost my vote had he dwelt on his privileged background during the campaign. I am glad he never did and for that my respect for him soared.

So what are my reasons for voting Belgore? He comes to the race with covetable personal achievements as a lawyer. Alongside other senior lawyers, he leads one of Nigeria’s most reputable law firms: Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore. Away from youthful exuberance and parental indulgence, he co-founded this firm at a tender age of 28. Such a tough decision, despite family wealth, explains that he is a man of purpose. He reached the pinnacle of his law profession by becoming a senior advocate at 40. Leading a law firm to fame is not a joke; it shows he and his partners are good managers of men and resources. I believe Kwara needs creative and good managers of men and resources, not some politicians adept at stealing and deceiving the people.

Truth is Nigeria and many of its component states are not lacking in men and women with wealthy background aspiring to its leadership. But very few of them can boast of having reached the peak of their professions or being a success at their callings!  I dare say no man or woman who has established a good name for him/herself would watch it crumble because of politics. The summary of this is that, to my mind, Kwara would progress with him as its leader. I should put a caveat that no man is without his failings as a human being; Belgore should have his. I have mine. You have yours. Unlike Hamza, I do not believe Belgore would exchange his good name or sully the record of his law firm for the shame that comes with betraying a people’s cause because of a godfather.

Unlike other opposition figures before him, Belgore has remained in the lurch with people of Kwara State. If there is anybody the PDP and Sarakites believe is turning the people against them it is Belgore. That is because, without resorting to personal attacks he and his ACN are constantly bringing to the fore issues of governance as they affect the people. So his consistency is another reason I will vote for him next time because he has shown he is not an election-time advocate of a government that places the people at the heart of its policies.

Finally I should make the point that Kwara has a peculiar political history and scenarios. The struggle for its emancipation goes beyond which platform is used to achieve it. The struggle, to my mind, is about ridding our state of all vestiges of Sarakiism, ridding it of the tendencies to hang the fate of a people and their generations unborn in the hands of one political family (and their allies) who have shown disdain for human capital and infrastructural development for reasons connected solely and solely to perpetuating political and economic slavery in 21st century. Despite coming from Kwara South, Governor Ahmed has only shown himself to be a collaborator in this project.

So if I have another opportunity to vote in another governorship election in Kwara I will choose a man who has a reputation to protect, a man who belongs in the crowd of decent men and women, not some fellows who rose to prominence abusing public trust.

Ishaq writes from Ilorin, Kwara State capital.