The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, on Tuesday, officially presented the Independent National Electoral Commission nomination form to its governorship candidate, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu.
The development has, however, failed to draw an immediate response from the coalition of aggrieved governorship aspirants known as the G10, despite the group’s sustained opposition to the outcome of the party’s primaries.
Danladi-Salihu, who is also the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, received the nomination form from the state APC Chairman, Sunday Fagbemi, during a ceremony at the party’s state secretariat in Ilorin.
The event, attended by party leaders, executives, stakeholders and supporters, formally confirmed Danladi-Salihu as the APC’s governorship candidate for the 2027 election and marked another milestone in the party’s preparations for the poll.
The development, however, comes amid lingering internal disagreements within the Kwara APC following the governorship primaries held on May 22, in which Danladi-Salihu defeated 14 other aspirants to emerge as the party’s flag-bearer after polling 94,990 votes.
The latest ceremony also followed renewed calls by the state’s three APC senators for reconciliation and a review of aspects of the primaries process, as well as continued objections from members of the party’s elders’ caucus and several defeated governorship aspirants.
Speaking shortly after receiving the nomination form, Danladi-Salihu thanked President Bola Tinubu, the APC National Working Committee, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the state party leadership and stakeholders for their confidence in him.
He said, “I thank Mr President, our national leadership, our leader in Kwara State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, our party executives, ward leaders and every stakeholder for the confidence reposed in me.”
The APC candidate also acknowledged the governorship aspirants who contested against him, describing the primaries as a democratic exercise in which a winner was expected to emerge.
“By the grace of God, the APC is one family. We will remain united and emerge even stronger. Reconciliation is ongoing, and it is our responsibility to carry everyone along as we prepare for the governorship, National Assembly and state Assembly elections,” he said.
Danladi-Salihu assured party members and residents of the state that he would justify the confidence reposed in him if elected governor while praying for God’s guidance throughout the electoral process.
Earlier, Fagbemi appealed to party members to avoid actions capable of worsening existing divisions within the APC, particularly through social media comments.
“The reconciliation process is already underway. I appeal to all members to avoid actions capable of creating further divisions within our party.
“Let us remain disciplined, united and focused on securing victory in the forthcoming elections,” the APC chairman said.
His remarks came against the backdrop of growing disagreements within the party over the conduct of the governorship and legislative primaries.
When contacted by The PUNCH after the presentation, one of the leading governorship aspirants, Saliu Mustapha, declined to comment individually on the development.
Responding through his Executive Assistant, Abdulkareem Alabi, the senator’s camp said any position on the matter would come from the G10, the coalition comprising the aggrieved governorship aspirants and other stakeholders.
“We have no reaction to the development as an individual aspirant. There’s a G10, which comprises 10 strong aspirants and other members, including the three serving senators, four House of Representatives members, and other stakeholders who are pushing for the right thing to be done in the party.
“Whatever position they take as a collective body is the position of the senator. You may reference their communiqué as published yesterday on the subject matter,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, the G10 had yet to issue any official statement specifically reacting to Tuesday’s presentation of the nomination form.
The silence comes days after the three APC senators representing Kwara State jointly called for urgent intervention by the party leadership over the growing internal crisis.
In a communiqué issued after a joint meeting of the Kwara APC Senate caucus and signed by Senators Saliu Mustapha (Kwara Central), Oyelola Ashiru (Kwara South) and Sadiq Suleiman Umar (Kwara North), the lawmakers expressed concern over what they described as declining party cohesion.
“The caucus observes an erosion of party cohesion. Legitimate stakeholders have been excluded from critical decision-making, breeding grievance where there ought to be consensus,” they stated.
The senators also expressed concern over controversies surrounding the recently concluded governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and state Assembly primaries.
“The recently concluded governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives, and state Assembly primaries have generated avoidable controversy,” they said.
They consequently urged the state executive and the APC National Working Committee to constitute a high-level reconciliation committee with a 30-day mandate to reintegrate aggrieved members and strengthen party unity ahead of the 2027 elections.
The intervention by the senators followed weeks of disagreement over the conduct of the APC primaries.
The crisis first surfaced during the screening exercise for state House of Assembly aspirants when over 100 aspirants were initially disqualified by the screening committee, triggering protests and allegations of attempts to impose preferred candidates.
Following widespread complaints, the party leadership later reversed the decision and cleared all 159 legislative aspirants to participate in the primaries.
The controversy later shifted to the governorship contest after Danladi-Salihu emerged the winner of the primaries conducted on May 22.
Although the APC leadership accepted the outcome, a coalition of defeated governorship aspirants rejected the process, alleging irregularities and questioning the legitimacy of the exercise.
On Tuesday, APC elder Olaitan Oyin-Zubair spoke on the alleged constitutional breaches in the composition of party executives in some local government areas.
According to him, the APC constitution requires local government executives to emerge through congresses and not appointments, arguing that alleged violations in some councils could expose subsequent party processes to legal challenge.
“Our party is greater than any individual, and our constitution is the bond that holds us together.
“Today, that bond is being tested in Kwara APC because we have chosen to ignore our own rules,” he said.
He specifically cited Irepodun, Asa and Ifelodun local government areas, alleging that constitutional provisions governing party administration were not strictly followed.
Also reacting, another APC elder, Abdul-Rahoof Bello, insisted that the governorship primaries which produced Danladi-Salihu remained fundamentally flawed.
“We cannot build something on nothing. There were no valid primaries to produce Danladi-Salihu as a candidate. The process that produced him was poor. We have protested right to the National Working Committee, the national party chairman, and the Presidency levels,” he said.
Bello argued that confirming the nomination despite pending objections could affect the APC’s electoral fortunes in the state.
He also questioned what he described as the legality of Danladi-Salihu’s participation in multiple nomination processes.
Despite his reservations, Bello said he would not personally work against the APC.
Meanwhile, supporters of Danladi have continued to urge aggrieved members to embrace reconciliation.
A political group, Kwara South Young Professionals in Politics, recently endorsed the APC governorship candidate and appealed to dissatisfied aspirants to remain within the party.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Abdulrosheed Akogun said expressing grievances was part of democratic practice and should not be interpreted as hostility towards the party.
“Those who are aggrieved have done nothing wrong. They are still within the party. They’re coming out to express their grievances because they want them addressed. That shows they also love the party,” he said.
Akogun expressed confidence that the reconciliation efforts would eventually succeed.
“I can assure you that within the next few days, all the aggrieved aspirants and stakeholders will come together to support the candidature of Yakubu Danladi-Salihu,” he added.
In another development, a socio-political group, the Moro Sustainable Movement, has called on the leadership of the APC to zone the Edu/Moro/Patigi Federal Constituency House of Representatives ticket for the 2027 general elections to Moro Local Government Area, alleging that the council has suffered decades of political exclusion.
The group argued that denying Moro the APC ticket would further entrench what it described as a long-standing imbalance in political representation within Kwara North.
It insisted that the local government remains the only one in the district yet to produce either a senator or a member of the House of Representatives since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
The position of the group was contained in a statement jointly signed by the Chairman of the Moro Sustainable Movement, Jimoh Adam, and its Secretary, Hammed Sodiq, on Tuesday.
According to the group, ongoing discussions following the APC primaries in Kwara North made it necessary to draw attention to what it described as the continued marginalisation of Moro in the distribution of elective offices.
The statement read, “While we welcome every sincere effort aimed at promoting fairness and equity, we are compelled to state that any arrangement that overlooks Moro Local Government Area for the House of Representatives seat will amount to another chapter in the long history of political exclusion suffered by our people.”
The group maintained that despite its electoral contributions and loyalty to the APC, Moro had consistently been left out of the constituency’s representation at the National Assembly.
It noted that since 1999, the House of Representatives seat had rotated between Edu and Patigi local government areas, leaving Moro without representation.
“From 1999 to 2007, the late Yahaya Yunusa from Edu represented the constituency. From 2007 to 2019, the late Aliyu Bahago Ahman from Patigi occupied the seat for three consecutive terms.
“Between 2019 and 2023, Ahmed Ndakene Abubakar from Edu represented the constituency, while the current occupant, Dr Adamu Ahmed Saba, is also from Edu.
“Moro has never had the opportunity to represent the constituency at the House of Representatives,” the statement added.
The movement further argued that a similar pattern existed in the senatorial district, saying Patigi, Baruten, Edu and Kaiama had all produced senators since 1999, while Moro remained without representation at either level of the National Assembly.
The group also warned that the APC could face political consequences if it failed to consider Moro for the House of Representatives ticket, particularly as the Peoples Democratic Party had reportedly settled for a senatorial candidate from the local government.
Read the full article here
