2023: Kwara Opposition Forces Converge on Abuja to Wrest Power from APC, AbdulRazaq

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

As the race to the 2023 elections draws nearer, leading political forces and stakeholders in Kwara State at the weekend met in Abuja to deepen the dynamics of next year’s elections in the state.

The development, according to THISDAY checks, might not be unconnected with the move to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government and  the incumbent Governor of the state, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in the next elections in the state.

The meeting, it was gathered, was held on the sideline of the official commissioning of  the Taju Audu and Co., a member firm of the TGS Global Network in Nigeria tagged: ‘TAC House’, Abuja.

The company has remained a dynamic accountancy network specialising in the provision of accounting, audit, tax and commercial legal services.

The meeting, according to sources, was attended by the three governorship candidates of the opposition political parties in the state.

The governorship candidates, according to the sources at the meeting, included the governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2023 election, Alhaji Hakeem Lawal; the PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Abdullahi Shuaibu Yaman, and the New Nigerian Peoples Party(NNPP) governorship candidate, Professor Shuaib Oba AbdulRaheem.

Other politicians at the meeting were Hon. Aliyu Ahman;  the Director-General of Kwara SDP Campaign Organisation, Mr. Kale Belgore; Alhaji Adamu Manko, Kwara North SDP senatorial candidate, among others.

The sources said the political forces were said to have deliberated extensively on the political reality of the state, and vowed not to allow the issues that befell the 2019 hopes to repeat itself in the 2023.

They added that the groups have  also agreed to  work in unison towards bringing back lost hopes of the 2019 aspirations in 2023 in the state.

It was further gathered that before the 2019 elections, all these forces, except PDP’s Yarman, were in the APC.

The aggrieved members led by erstwhile  APC state Chairman, Alhaji  Bashir Bolarinwa, deserted the ruling party leaving the remaining members of the party to be led by Prince Sunday Fagbemi.

THISDAY investigations further revealed that these aggrieved members who had scattered under the banner of the APC, SDP, YPP and the NNPP are looking at the possibility of toeing the line of collaboration to uproot a common foe in the interest of the people of the state.

It would be recalled that prior to the 2019 elections, an arrays of opposition elements under the aegis of Otoge forces came together as a political tsunami to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) then led by the former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

During the period, all the legislative seats at both the state and national levels were won by the APC and also crowned it with governorship seat that was won by the incumbent Governor AbdulRazaq.