Kwara election: Don’t be surprised to see opposition candidates supporting Abdulrazaq’s reelection — APC campaign council
…Says defection will not affect party’s chances
By Saka Laaro, Ilorin.
Kwara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council for re-election of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on Thursday said that two governorship and some other leading candidates from opposition parties in the State will soon rejoin the APC ahead of the 2023 general elections.
However, the campaign council said that exodus of governorship and senatorial candidates of the YPP, SDP and ADC from the ruling party will not have negative effect on the chances of the governor in 2023 general elections.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the campaign council, led by its director general, Ambassador Yahaya Seriki, said that discussion to have working arrangement with the APC was already going on among governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and other leading candidates of the opposition parties in the State.
The campaign boss, who was corroborated by the state chairman of the party, Chief Sunday Fagbemi and the council’s spokesperson, who doubles as the state commisioner for Finance, Mrs. Florence Oyeyemi, said that APC is a family with peculiar internal mechanism in resolving issues.
“If you could recall, I was director general of the APC campaign council in the Kwara Central senatorial district in 2018/2019 general elections. Many of these people that decamped from APC didn’t participate in the election campaign then. You see, all these people in the YPP, SDP. We’re part of one big family and are related one way or the other.
“In 2019, I approached about 13 governorship aspirants then on the need to present one person among all of us as the party’s governorship candidate. The major reason they are not in APC today is because of their personal interest or expectations which according to them might not have been met. My own interest is to see a better Kwara state. If they believe in growth of the state, they would not have left the party. Kwara is bigger than anybody. Leaving the party, to me, is out of personal interest and not that of the state.
“Their departure from the party would not affect chances of the governor in his bid for re-election. They also know they are going no where leaving the party.
“They were probably looking for ways to see us come and meet with them, which we have already started. By the special grace of God, the governorship candidates of the YPP, SDP, even PDP, we are together.
“Don’t be surprised to hear and see tomorrow the PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman Abdulahi, saying that because of Ambassador Yahaya Seriki, he’s supporting Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq reelection bid come 2023.”
Chief Sunday Fagbemi, who said that there is a difference in governance and partisan politics, added that the minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, is still a member of the APC.
“The Minister is our leader and he’s still part of us. He has never said that he’s no longer part of us. He will participate in the 2023 general elections with us. The closer you look, the lesser you know as it concerns APC in Kwara.
“Never mind, by the time elections comes you will see that we’re going to win by bigger margin than what happened in 2019. There’s no cause for alarm,” he said.
Also speaking, the campaign council spokesperson, Florence Oyeyemi said that the State has moved from the 20th position on financial sustainability index in 2018 to eighth position currently.
She was responding to allegation by the opposition on alleged huge debt profile of the present administration, saying that there’s no way the present administration would have been servicing debt and move up on the financial sustainability index.
“Fiscal sustainability index simply means ability to be able to sustain your finances comparing it with what your loan repayment schedules are and relating it with Federation Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC) and IGR,” she said.
She also said that the only facility taken by the present administration was bond, which she said was being used for the execution of sustainable projects like a garment making factory, Innovation hub and Visual Arts Centre.
