The national assembly primary
election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held on Wednesday in many states
but was moved to Thursday in Kwara.
The reason for the postponement
was not given and the venue of the exercise in the three senatorial districts
was not known to many journalists and party members.
But by Thursday evening, reports
emerged that Abdulfatai Ahmed, governor of the state, who had earlier declared
his senatorial bid, had emerged consensus candidate of Kwara south senatorial
district.
Rafiu Ibrahim, senator currently
representing the district, was said to have lost out in the race after
delegates unanimously adopted the governor.
In Kwara north, two house of reps
member are battling for the ticket of the ruling party; they are Zakari
Mohammed and Aliyu Pategi but many were kept in the dark over the contestants
in Kwara central where Senate President Bukola Saraki is from.
Top PDP chieftains in the
senatorial district kept their lips sealed when told to comment on those
seeking to replace Saraki, a presidential aspirant of the PDP.
Tunde Ashaolu, spokesman of the
party in Kwara, said he had no information about the senatorial aspirants in
Kwara central. However, he made it clear that someone had picked up the PDP
nomination and expression of interest forms for the senatorial district.
He refused to disclose the
identity of the individual.
Commenting on the primary, a PDP
member from the senatorial district said: “You won’t believe that as a
delegate, I don’t know those contesting for the ticket of Kwara central. I was
only told one person collected the form, who that person is I don’t know, our
leaders said he is anonymous.”
On Thursday, Ashaolu said the
primaries had been concluded and winners had emerged.
“We have done all our primaries
but I can’t give you that information you requested for. The only thing is that
all our senatorial primaries have been completed but I can’t give you names of
the winners,” he said.
But a source revealed that
Saraki obtained the form as a soft landing in the event that things do no go as
planned at the presidential primary.
“The senate president picked the
form as well as that of presidential. I can tell you that he is more interested
in retaining his seat at the senate than being the head of this country,” the
source said.
“If he had not obtained the form,
a man like David Mark would have had a higher stake than him as to the
leadership of the 9th senate. So, he knows what he is doing.
“Let me tell you the PDP ticket
in Kwara central was given to a retired permanent secretary in Kwara state. His
name is Abdulrahman Babatunde Sidiq. He will hand over the ticket to the senate
president when he is ready.”
PDP has up till Sunday to present
its candidate in Kwara central senatorial district as the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) has set October 7 as deadline for political parties
to submit names of their candidates.
Yusuph Olaniyonu, spokesman of
the senate president, did not respond to inquiries as at the time of filing this report.
If Saraki succeeds in returning
to the senate, he will be the only one to do so of the three Kwara senators in
the 8th assembly.
While Ibrahim lost the ticket to
Ahmed, Sha’aba Lafiagi, Kwara north, contested and lost the governorship
primary election of the party.
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