JUST IN: APC postpones Kwara governorship primary

By Mosunmola Ayobami, Ilorin

The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress has postponed the Kwara State governorship primary earlier scheduled for Thursday to Friday amid ongoing consultations and political realignments within the party.

Kwara APC Chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, confirmed the postponement on Thursday, saying officials from the party’s national headquarters communicated the decision to the state chapter without giving detailed reasons.

“We do not have details of the postponement other than the fact that the team from the national office came and instructed that the election should hold tomorrow,” Fagbemi told journalists in Ilorin.

The development came as eight governorship aspirants stepped down for Ambassador Abdulfatai Yahaya Seriki, widely believed to be the preferred successor of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq ahead of the primary election.

The aspirants who declared support for Seriki included Dr. Salako Oluwatoyin, Capt. Ahmad Mahmoud, Prof. Wale Sulaiman, Dr. Mohammed Bio, Dr. Toyin Alabi, Hajiya Aisha Patigi, Sen. Ibrahim Oloriegbe and Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu.

Sources within the party said Seriki held strategic meetings with fellow aspirants and stakeholders on Wednesday night, during which participants agreed to support his candidacy in the interest of party unity and continuity of the AbdulRazaq administration’s policies and programmes.

Party leaders at the meeting also reportedly pledged commitment to peaceful conduct during the primary election and urged members to avoid actions capable of causing division within the APC in the state.

Despite the postponement, party members trooped to designated voting centres across parts of Kwara on Thursday morning in anticipation of the exercise. In several wards within Kwara Central Senatorial District, members, including persons living with disabilities, were seen waiting for electoral officials hours before the scheduled commencement.

At Gambari Ward II in Ilorin East Local Government Area, a visually impaired party member, Abubakar Gobir, said he and other supporters attended the venue to participate in the process as loyal APC members, while chants of support for Seriki dominated some wards in Ilorin West and parts of Kwara South amid reports of delayed arrival of electoral materials in certain locations.