Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi has been declared the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate for Kwara State in next year’s elections.

He was declared the winner of the keenly contested primary election held at the Arca Santa Event Centre in Ilorin, the state capital, on Wednesday after beating two other contestants in the race by 518 votes.

The two other contestants, a former two-term member of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Ahman Patigi; and former Nigerian Ambassador to Japan, Professor Yisa Gana, scored 31 and 14 votes respectively.

The primary election was witnessed by the national leadership of the party, Dr. Bukola Saraki, top members and supervised by national party officers, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and security agencies.

DAILY POST reports that 18 aspirants had initially signified intention to contest for the gubernatorial ticket in the party.

However, only three aspirants obtained forms, and were screened and cleared to participate in the primary election on Wednesday.

The former two-term member of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Ahman Patigi hails from Patigi Local Government, former state Commissioner and Nigerian Ambassador to Japan, Professor Yisa Gana, is also from Patigi Local Government Area of the state while Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi, member of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, hails from Tsonga, in Edu Local Government Area of the state.

One other aspirant, a social media influencer, Baba Idris, withdrew from the primary election before its commencement leaving the three contestants for the battle.

A total of 596 elected delegates voted at the primary election made up of 579 ward delegates, one national delegate each from the 16 local governments in the state, and one physically challenged delegate.