Although, last Saturday’s council elections in Kwara State held peacefully, but intrigues from contending parties almost marred the exercise. Weekly Trust   x-rays the game of wits that defined the election.

It was relatively a local political contest, involving the election of new council chairmen and councillors for the 15 local councils and 181 wards in Kwara State. But last Saturday’s   council elections in the state were perceived beyond local politics.

Political observers said there were trappings of national politics in the contest, as rival interests mounted seemingly inordinate pressures on the state electoral umpire - Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC), which handled the polls.

Though, the election has come and gone with the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), clearing all the seats, it was defined by intense politicking and intrigues which almost stalled the polls.  But KWASIEC was vehemently insistent on going ahead with the polls, summoning courage from the reality that no court order stopped the conduct of the election, as sought by the opposition party.

The last council elections in the state was conducted in October 2010 and the tenure of the chairmen was expected to lapse at any moment. With the inauguration of KWASIEC led by Dr. Uthman Ajidagba towards the end of June by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, the stage was set for the conduct of another council election. 

It is observed that the commission swung into action with the conduct of court-ordered rerun election in Offa Local Government on August 31.  Observers say it was the first test of competence for the state electoral body.

However, while preparations for the local government elections had reached a crescendo, the PDP at the national level was hit by a terrible intra-party crisis, leading to the split of the party into old and new PDPs. 

The latter faction of the PDP was given fillip by seven incumbent governors of the party, some former governors and serving National Assembly members. Among the G-7 Governors is also Governor Ahmed of Kwara State and the immediate past governor of the state and current Senator representing Kwara Central in the National Assembly  Dr. Bukola Saraki as members.

Alhaji Kawu Baraje who chairs the new faction of the PDP is also from Kwara State. In other words, according to political pundits, Kwara is a full-fledged new PDP State. Therefore, the local government election in the state was caught in the cross-fire of this PDP friction. 

Also, the PDP had to equally battle with the challenge of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) which sought the extension of the election timetable to enable it to participate as a newly registered political party.

With the festering crisis in the PDP, a faction loyal to Bamanga Tukur had emerged, dissociating itself from the New PDP  in the state led by Senator Saraki as party leader and Hon. Ishola Balogun-Fulani as the state chairman. 

The “old PDP” faction is believed to be led by the Chairman of Federal Character Commission (FCC), Professor Oba Abdulraheem who has parted ways with Saraki. Weekly Trust recalls that the faction had also paid a courtesy visit on Tukur, requesting that the party’s leadership sanction the Sarakis for alleged anti-party activities. 

It was gathered that this request was rebuffed by Tukur who reportedly hinted that doing so would frustrate the ongoing rapprochement.

However, few days to the council elections, the faction approached the Federal High Court to challenge the process for the selection of candidates by the New PDP. It claimed the process circumvented the party’s constitution. They however failed to stop the election as the court adjourned the case till November 27. 

Similarly, the desperate bid by the APC to stop the election on Friday, a day preceding the election also failed at the state High Court, Ilorin.

However, the triumph of KWASIEC against the anti-election forces   failed to douse the raging tension and uncertainty surrounding the election. It heightened as news filtered into the state that a new list of candidates has been sent by the Tukur group as the authentic PDP flag bearers for the polls. 

In a letter dated October 24, signed by the Abiodun Dada and Coy, the legal firm prosecuting the case challenging the authenticity of the candidates nominated by the New PDP in Kwara on behalf of PDP National Legal Adviser Victor Kwon, Tukur’s PDP asked the security agencies especially the police not to provide security for the poll or recognize the candidates of the new PDP.

This directive was, however, snubbed as the election was conducted under the watchful eyes of all security agencies -  the Nigerian Police, State Security Service (SSS), and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Prior to the conduct of the election, the state PDP executive had dismissed the claim of the old PDP, insisting that the primary election of the party  was conducted in accordance with the party’s constitution and  duly supervised by a delegation from the national secretariat.

According to the letter written to the state PDP from the party headquarters, Abuja, dated August 19, 2013 signed by Acting National Organizing Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar titled, “Monitoring of Councillorship and chairmanship primaries for Local Government Council  Elections in Kwara State”, the national leadership of the party sent a five-man committee. The members included Hon. Mayowa Akinfolarin (Chairman) Ezimie Okwue (member), Zanna Kaga (member) Solomon Katuka (member) and Yusuf Issa Igabi (member/ Secretary).

The letter reads: “The above-named persons have been appointed by the NWC of PDP to serve on the monitoring committee for councillorship and chairmanship primaries elections in Kwara State”.

The letter which also stated that the exercise would hold from August 26-27, advised the state PDP leadership to accord them the necessary support and cooperation needed for the success of the assignment.

In another letter written by the Kwara State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Isola Balogun-Fulani to the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur on August 27, 2013 titled, “List of candidates for chairmanship and councillorship councils elections in the state on October 26, 2013, the state party chairman stated;  

“We forward herewith the list of our councillors and chairmanship candidates for the election into our 181 electoral wards and 15 chairmanship candidates to 15 local government councils; please accept the assurances of our esteemed regards.” 

However, at a press conference held at the state secretariat of PDP two days to the conduct of the last council polls in the state following the fresh list released by the Tukur faction for the councillorship and chairmanship positions for the election, the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Fulani urged members of the public to disregard the Tukur list.

However, amidst the intrigues and discordant tunes, the election was conducted with three parties namely the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP) which is virtually non-existent in the state and the PDP.  The PDP cleared all the seats according to KWASIEC results, announced by the chairman on Sunday.

According to the chairman, the party’s chairmanship candidate in Asa council , Malam Saka Obalana polled 43,748; his counterpart in Baruten, Mohammed Bio scored 76,478; Alhaji Abubakar Tshonga of Edu council  scored 61,291; while his counterpart for Ekiti council, Akintoba Fatigun got 23,888.

The party’s candidate for Ifelodun  council , Babatunde Salami scored 74,299; and his counterpart for IIorin East , Abdul Lateef Okandeji polled 89,416.

Usman Ebedi, the party’s candidate for IIorin South LG scored 63,267; while his counterpart for IIorin West council , Tajudeen Zulu-Oloje polled 129,885.

The party’s candidate for Irepodun  council , Lukman Owolewa, scored 41,187; and the candidate for Isin  council ,  Moruf Thanni got 21,144.

The party’s flagbearer for Kaima Local Goverment, Alhassan Bagudu scored 43,747; while Abdul Ganiyu Ajibola of Moro Local Goverrnment polled 46,493.

The party’s candidate for Oke-Ero Local Government, Aminat Yusuf got 23,957; while his counterpart for Oyun Local Government, Jimoh Alao scored 34,783 and Uthman Mohammed of Patigi council polled 36,294.

Ajidagba did not however disclose the scores of the 181 councillorship candidates of the party in the election.

Chairman of the new PDP, Baraje shortly after casting his vote dismissed the letter purportedly written by the Tukur’s camp, saying it would amount to impunity to have written such a letter.

He said, “Let me quickly point out again that we were here about two months ago to prepare for this election and to receive officials from the national secretariat of PDP whom we have written to send its team to come and screen these candidates for today.

“And they’ve screened them. There are correspondences. These correspondences are available in the secretariat of PDP, Kwara State. So, if another letter comes, somebody is creating confusion somewhere and those are the kinds of confusion and impunity we are talking about. If there is any letter to that effect, the electoral law is very clear...”

Commenting on the outcome of the election, the chairman-elect for Ekiti Local Government described the poll as an attestation to the acceptance of the state PDP leadership under Senator Saraki. Akintoba told Weekly Trust that despite the virtual absence of opposition during the election, the party at the local government and ward levels still embarked on aggressive door-to-door campaigns to intimate the electorate on the election and solicit their support.

As the new chairmen await swearing-in come December after the expiration of tenure of the out-going chairmen, it is not certain what would be the outcome of the pending court cases. Until then the state PDP still savours the victory recorded last Saturday.