, Governor Abdulrazaq faces tough battle as other party plans to retake Kwara -

Governor Abdulrazaq faces tough battle as other party plans to retake Kwara

The 2023 general elections in Kwara State promises to be an interesting battle of the titans in the murky political arena of the State.

Political pundits are of the view that the political Tsunami christened ‘Otogé’ revolution championed by the All Progressives Congress APC, which swept the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, out of power may find it difficult to repeat the same victory recorded in the 2019 elections in the State.

Newscrescent recalls that the APC in 2019, recorded an unprecedented landslide victory, winning the governorship seat and all the National and State House of Assembly seats.

The PDP however, later succeeded in snatching a seat in the 24-member State House of Assembly through a judgement by the Election Tribunal.

Political watchers observe that the APC may find it hard in 2023 to repeat the same feat considering the intra-party crisis which tore the party apart shortly after Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq was sworn-in.

This is because the major gladiators who teamed up with Governor Abdulrazaq to win the election have deserted him in pursuit of their political ambitions on the platforms of other political parties in the State.

Notable and formidable gladiators who reportedly had disagreements with the incumbent governor, include Professor Oba Shuaib Abdulraheem, now with the NNPP, Waziri Yakubu Gobir, (YPP), Hakeem Lawal, (SDP), Yaman Shuaib Abdullahi, (PDP), all former members of the APC.

Aside Yaman Abdullahi, the PDP gubernatorial candidate who hails from Kwara North Senatorial District, the three others are also contesting the 2023 elections as governorship candidates from Kwara Central alongside Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq.

With Kwara Central Senatorial District having the highest votes cast in every election, it is certain that it would remain a battle-ground for the gubernatorial election.

However, it is unlikely that the story would be the same again in 2023 for the ruling APC government of Governor Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq, as three other formidable contenders from the same senatorial district will lock horns with him in the governorship race, according to political pundits.

Newscrescent observed that the personalities and the followers of Professor Oba Abdulraheem of the NNPP, Waziri Yakubu Gobir, YPP, Hakeem Lawal of the SDP, and Lukman Mustapha, among others, are enough to rock the boat of what remains of the ‘Otoge’ movement in the Kwara Central senatorial district.

According to the 2019 Kwara State governorship election result by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for Kwara Central Senatorial District, the APC scored 16,246 votes, PDP 8,963 votes in Asa Local Government area, while in Ilorin East, the APC scored 31,521 votes to beat PDP with 10,888 votes.

In Ilorin South Local Government Area, the APC polled 26,752 votes to defeat the PDP with 9,489 votes, while in Ilorin West Local Government Area, the APC scored 55,289 to beat PDP with 25,583 votes.

The analysis of the votes cast indicated that the registered voters were 1,376,372, while total votes cast was 463,427, with 9,994 invalid votes representing 2.16 percent

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