In Kwara State, ruling All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party are set for an epic political battle in the February governorship election, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

AHEAD of the February governorship election in Kwara State, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are poised for what many observers say would be an epic political battle.

Although there are about eight governorship candidates in the race to the Government House, political analysts claim the Kwara gubernatorial contest is a two-horse race between Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of the APC and his main opponent, Senator Simeon Ajibola, the PDP candidate.

Also, the contest is peculiar in that the two candidates are from Kwara South Senatorial District. Ahmed is from Igbomina. Ajibola is Ekiti. Pundits say the election would be won and lost outside the southern district as the two of them are expected to pull some weight at home.

“Both Ahmed and Ajibola are very popular in the southern district. The political situation today is such that two illustrious sons of the district are at each other’s throat politically.

“As we speak, it is obvious that they both enjoy wide followership at home. But the election will be won outside the southern district. This is where the APC will have an advantage. Ahmed has been governor for four years; a performing governor at that.

“So, his wider political network and popularity will deliver the votes for APC in the north and central senatorial districts. With that, I see APC winning the contest in the long run,” Bode Oyedepo, State coordinator of the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG), told The Nation.

Aside the said advantage, pundits say the state of the Kwara State chapter of the PDP may also work against Ajibola’s aspiration in February.  The party primaries were rancorous. It had to be done twice. The first one in December was inconclusive. All hell was let loose as aspirants alleged that some Abuja politicians wanted to impose a particular candidate on the party.

Ajibola and ten other aspirants raised alarm. The party leadership was accused of undue interference and there was pandemonium. Eventually, the primary was repeated and Ajibola won. But there was no rejoicing over his victory as it appeared that most party leaders preferred someone else.

Many thought the initial coldness from party leaders towards Ajibola’s candidacy was a matter of time. But it wasn’t to be as it refused to go away even few weeks to election. Observers of the politics of the state say the PDP campaign in the state is not as expected.

And with the Saraki structure solidly behind Ahmed, analysts say it will be a difficult task for Ajibola to defeat him. The same Saraki structure gave Ajibola the senate seat he currently occupies.

 Alhaji Ajani Waheed, former Vice Chairman of the PDP in Asa Local Government Area said Ajibola is no match for the APC. According to him, “the Saraki structure is tested, trusted, strong, steady and capable of effectively warding off threats from the opposition. The opposition can only ignore the potency of the structure to its peril.”

“Kwara PDP died the moment the Saraki structure left it. Ajibola and others who stayed back lost their followers who moved with their real leaders to the APC.

But debunking insinuations that his party is divided, Ajibola said: “We are all winners in the last primary election as there is no victor, no vanquished. We are all together and working together to ensure that our efforts translate into winning Kwara for PDP.”

But, Ajibola, analysts say, is banking largely on the support of the Presidency to emerge victorious in the election. This explains his confidence in a race many would vow has been lost before it started.

“The federal might is giving Ajibola confidence. We are going to be telling the people why they should not allow anybody to drag us from the centre to an opposition state. Jonathan is winning the presidency and we cannot afford to be in opposition.

“Kwara people are not daft. They know the implication of that and they will not be fooled. The PDP too will not fold its hand and lose Kwara. We are winning the election here in February and Ajibola is the next governor,” another source, a former commissioner in the state said.

The political war is already generating serious tension as the two leading candidates engage themselves in heated issue-based exchanges over their performances in their current offices.

Responding to recent claims by Senator Ajibola that he contributed money towards projects like Baruten Road, the Ilorin Cargo Terminal and the International Vocational Centre, Ajase Ipo, the governor dismissed the assertion as blatant lies, stressing that the said projects were funded from federal allocation, internal sources and bank loans.

He challenged the Senator to provide proof of his financial contribution to the projects in question, which he insisted were funded by the state government. Ahmed expressed disappointment that Ajibola displayed ignorance about how state government projects are funded despite aspiring to govern the state.

Ahmed further challenged Ajibola to reveal how many federal government projects he has attracted to Kwara State and which bills he has sponsored in the Senate stressing that the Federal Government’s Ajase Ipo to Erin Ile Road remains in serious disrepair despite being a major road in Kwara South which Ajibola represents in the Senate.

But speaking to The Nation, Ajibola insisted that he contributed the sum of N1. 5 billion to capital projects in the state. The governorship candidate said the contribution was made to Kwara State National Assembly Joint Project. He said part of the N1. 5 billion was used to construct the Baruten road, Cargo Terminal at Ilorin and the Vocational Centre, Ajase-Ipo, among other contributions he made to the state development.

He however said he did not believe in blowing his trumpet and in engaging in media hype like the APC-led government in the state. “Without being immodest, I have over the years been able to influence and directly facilitate numerous capital projects in Kwara South Senatorial District,” Ajibola added. The Senator listed his intervention in the area of education in Kwara South District to include construction of classrooms in Isapa, Ijagbo, Babanloma, Oke Oyan, Okeya-Po.

With the two candidates and their parties determined to clinch the governorship position next February, it is left to be seen where the pendulum will swing when actual voting begins