Kwara State All Progressives Congress governorship primary election may have come and gone, but the memory of the intrigues, suspense and high wire manipulation which characterized the exercise has remained indelible.
At least close to 17 aspirants emerged with keen interest to contest the primary election of the party for the gubernatorial ticket.
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had earlier pledged that he would prefer the next governor under the platform of the APC to come from Kwara North Senatorial District, because the region had long been sidelined in the history of political governance in the state.
Consequently, speculation of who takes over from Governor Abdulrazaq centred on the current Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Engr Yakubu Danladi Salihu as the heir apparent.
DAILY POST reports that names of three prominent aspirants Senator Salihu Mustapha, Bashir Bolarinwa and Femi Araba had earlier circulated widely among party members in the state prior to the primary election, with insinuation that the presidency had interest in a particular aspirant close to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
That was the picture presented until few hours to the governorship primary election of the party when Governor Abdulrazaq named his anointed aspirant in person of Yahaya Seriki as his preferred successor in office, a development which sent shockwaves to party members and political watchers in the state.
Amid the confusion created by the development, reports said a meeting of all the aspirants was summoned last Thursday by the governor at the Banquet Hall, Government House in Ilorin, but only one aspirant, Barrister Belgore attended, while others boycotted the meeting.
The aborted banquet meeting was trailed by announcements of aspirants refuting their purported withdrawal from the primary election for an aspirant among them.
Apart from the Director General of the National Legislative Institute, Abuja, Professor Abubakar Suleiman who announced his withdrawal from the exercise, all others declared they were still in the race, compounding the already confused loyalists of the party in the state.
The aggrieved aspirants opted for direct primary instead of consensus arrangement which the party leadership favored at both national and state levels.
The political space became more tensed when the Thursday primary election conducted through direct primary was abruptly halted by the national leadership of the party while it was ongoing.
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who announced the cancellation, disclosed that Friday, the following day, had been fixed for the primary election exercise, blaming the development on logistic issues.
The primary election eventually held on Friday with the Speaker, Yakubu Danladi Salihu, emerging as the winner against all speculations within the party.
Chairman of the primary election, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who announced the results at the Banquet Hall, disclosed that Yakubu Danladi polled 94,990 votes to beat his closest challenger, Yahaya Seriki who scored 41,700 and Dr Bashir Bolarinwa who got 22,118 votes.
Results of the other candidates showed that Engr Femi Sani polled 5519 votes, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe 3,920, Barrister Mohammed Dele Belgore 3,411, Mohammed Bio 1122, Dr Alabi Oluwatoyin 1,099, Professor Wale Suleiman 2,434, and Professor Abubakar Suleiman 1722 votes.
