Few days to Kwara guber primary, the patient dog waits

Date: 2014-11-17

The events leading to the first week in December when the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP will emerge in a primary election have of late become heated up and interesting.

However, as the wait game intensifies, Mr. Dele Belgore, the gubernatorial candidate of defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and now an aspirant on the platform of the PDP has suddenly become the issue on the lips of party men, as he is alleged, along with a woman leader of the party based in Abuja of tailoring the delegates list that would vote to choose PDP standard bearer in the first week of December.

First, it was his fellow gubernatorial aspirants that were said to have cried foul and took the case to the Presidency warning of grave danger for the party in the event that Belgore and the woman succeeded with their alleged plans.

However, while the dust appeared to have settled down among the aspirants, including Deacon John Dara, Engineer Jani Ibrahim, Architect Kale Belgore (an uncle to Dele), Senators Gbemisola Saraki, Simon Ajibola, Engineer Sunday Babalola, Rt. Hon. Bio Ibrahim, Alhaji Suleiman Makanjuola, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Young Akeem Lawal and Mr. Ben Duntoye, it is not so with other party men who still protested yesterday morning, warning officers of the party both at the national and local levels to be wary of provoking unpleasant repercussions of the alleged plans by Belgore and the woman in Abuja.

What makes the scenario more interesting is that two members of the Belgore family; Dele Belgore, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN and Abubakar Kale Belgore, an architect are eyeing the tenancy in Kwara Government House come May 29, 2015.

Kale Belgore appeared cool headed and humble enough that he appeared to be more favoured by the people going by the unfolding events of late. He is said to be a quiet thinker who had been the engine room of campaign structures of all civilian governors since 1999, when this nascent democracy started. He it was that steered the machines of operations that brought about the choice of late Navy Admiral Mohammed Lawal, as the fourth executive governor of the North-Central State. Also, the same Belgore was said to be the Director General of the campaign organisation of Bukola Saraki who also finally emerged as the fifth governor of the state in 2003 while he equally featured in the campaign structure that made the incumbent Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to come on the saddle in 2011. Ahmed, is the sixth civilian governor of state.

Observers say Kale Belgore, may be the man to watch going by his antecedents of a quiet and calculating style of winning the peoples' hearts when it comes to wooing voters during elections. He is said to be the opposite of Dele Belgore in the business. He is said never to name-drop nor flaunt any influence, an attribute that perhaps gave him the responsibilities of manning campaign structures of aspirants and candidates since the beginning of this political dispensation. His may now be the case of the proverbial king maker that at last had to make himself one too.

Besides, it is generally been said in the state that he was the first man, after having a brawl with former Governor Saraki, to have quietly left and joined the then Action Congress, AC. He was there till the party was re christened the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN but that when it was time for would aspirants in the party to do so in 2010, he signified his intention. He was said to have approached his cousin; Dele Belgore, who is a close friend of Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State. They were known to be co-lawyers in the chamber of Dele Belgore's father in Lagos from where the duo bagged their SAN status as lawyers, to help him talk to both Fashola and then ACN leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for support. Unfortunately, it was alleged that both Fashola and Tinubu preferred Dele, even though he was never before the time into politics at the smallest level. Worse still, Dele it was said, never came back to tell his uncle except that Kale only got to know when eventually, Dele declared his aspiration.

The story also added that it took the persuasion of the family to calm Kale down, and this development also made him to leave the defunct ACN to join Ahmed's campaign team in 2011.

As the two blood relations found themselves in the PDP and vying for the same office again, National Mirror gathered that the family had steered clear of the matter, leaving the duo to slug it out among themselves. However, with the latest development, where party members are protesting against Dele Belgore, time may have to tell.

For now, out of about 14 PDP gubernatorial aspirants in the state, a handful number of them appeared to be making waves through the high tempo that generated the weeks and days towards obtaining letters of intents, obtaining and submission of nomination forms had subsided. Aside the latest rumpus over the delegates list particularly, in the Ilorin West Local Government. The closer the day of primary election draws nearer, the more the activities of these aspirants becomes hush affair. Ilorin West however, is the traditional home of the Sarakis, Professor Shuaib Oba, Alhaji Abdulrahaman Abdulrazaq and the powerful Abuja based woman leader whose big arm is rather too heavy for members to bear.

For now, the weight of these aspirants is measured in their respective zones by keen observers. From the Southern district, Deacon Dara, an old war horse may not easily be a push over while the duo of Alhaji Ibrahim and Ajadi are quite loud enough in the zone. Ibrahim is a big weight though but in election, particularly at a critical time like this, it becomes a game of wits and tactics. Also, Senator Ajibola is an early starter, who had not relented. How much that can be converted to make delegates prefer him is what he may have to prove in just few days time. Similarly, Engineer Babalola is a quiet calculator. He was around in 2011 and he presents a man who has a vision and with a different style to get it. All will showcase themselves in just few day from now.

From the Northern district, only Hon. Ibrahim is contesting and he is not a new comer either. But in the Kwara Central, six aspirants, Senator Saraki, Lawal, Abdulrahman, Professor Shauib, Dele Belgore and Kale Belgore are battling for the ticket. While the other five are at one another's necks, Kale Belgore is like a waiting patient dog among them, who may eventually pick the fattest bone, the gubernatorial ticket. But, only time will certainly tell.

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