KWARA 2015: Kwara PDP, Belgore and the unseen hands, By Abdullahi Ishaq

Date: 2014-12-02

Over the past few weeks, the online media platform and a section of the print media have been awash with so much noise about the probable implosion of the PDP in Kwara ahead of the 2015 elections.

The argument for this prediction has been in two fold. One, they made so much noise about the 'many governorship aspirants' in the party with the fear that many of those aspirants might quit the party in the event that they fail to get the party's ticket. Two, and this is very recent, is the narrative that Mohammed Dele Belgore SAN has been anointed to fly the party's governorship ticket. It is being alleged that delegates list - which emanated from a delegate election on November 1 - is being manipulated by Hajiah Bola Shagaya and Belgore ahead of the governorship poll.

In one of the articles promoting this narrative, it is alleged that Belgore got no more than 30 of the over 500 delegates in the recently held delegates election in Kwara PDP. And for this reason, according to the article apparently sponsored by some persons, Belgore is now trying to change the 'original' delegates list to favour him.

But this later narrative could only be bought by intellectually lazy followers of the state politics. That is because it defies common sense and flies in the face of the happenings in the state. Here is why I said so. The PDP delegates election was held in Kwara on November 1. Going by media reports the next day, November 2, some governorship aspirants (excluding Belgore) were already complaining about the process and possible outcome. From this complaints, it is safe to conclude that these aspirants were not comfortable with the process/conducts and possible outcome from the day it was held. With representatives of these aspirants on the field, it is safe to conclude that their complaints meant that they lost out at that election.

Belgore, on the other hand, issued a statement on the next day of that same delegate election (November 2) commending the process, conduct and possible outcome of that same delegates' election. Like other aspirants, Belgore too must have had his men on the field from whom he must have known where he stood. It is also safe to conclude that reports from the field showed him in good place and that informed the tone of his statement. And this writer has followed activities in the camp of these aspirants and truth is none of them commands the sort of quality followership behind the senior lawyer: north, south and central. From his defection sometime in February to the last Eid-al-Adha get-together, it was obvious he's the aspirant to beat! The quality of representation across the state, from what I saw on NTA Ilorin, said it all.

So, the complaints of those aspirants and Belgore's commendation of the exercise naturally implied that the former lost out at the exercise while the latter made huge gains. If we proceed from this logical background, the allegations that Belgore is now seeking to change the same delegates list that emerged from the same election that he had commended and that other aspirants had condemned are very strange and illogical. The only logical allegation would have been Belgore alleging that the list of delegates who emerged from that election (whose conduct he had commended) is being doctored or manipulated.

From the above, I suspect that the noise about anyone trying to change delegates' list for Belgore is an illogical afterthought being promoted by either of two categories of people. One, aspirants who have lost out and just needed to say just anything to explain to their followers why they lost. Two, I am afraid that the Belgore-is-being-imposed narrative is being fuelled and actively promoted in the media by the APC in connivance with their moles within the PDP who, seeing that they may be failing in their plots to stop Belgore emerging as the PDP candidate, need to sell the argument that the senior advocate is a product of imposition. We must recall the deafening noise the APC continues to make about Belgore. Of all the aspirants in the PDP, they have continued to raise issues about the senior lawyer, beginning from his leaving the APC. This only suggests one thing: APC is afraid of a Dele Belgore candidature.

Back to the Kwara PDP implosion theory. The noise about the many governorship aspirants and the Belgore-is-being-imposed narrative is carefully designed to give the impression that the PDP cannot win Kwara because of supposed bitterness or rivalry arising from its governorship primaries. This argument is a ploy to demoralise the Kwara electorate as well as cover up for the poor rating of Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed.

For the record, representative democracy is known for its 'the more the merrier' mantra. It is never a bad thing to have many aspirants jostling for an elective position. It is indeed a mark of political freedom to see different people of varied backgrounds feeling free to express their intention to contest for public office.

•Ishaq sent this piece from Ilorin

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Abatemi Usman     Kwara State Council Of Chiefs     Kwara Politics     Monthly Sanitation Exercise     Sanusi Abubakar     Abdulrahman Iliasu     Abraysports FC     Unicontinental Construction Company     Valsolar-Kwara Company Limited     Ndakene     Wasiu Onidugbe     Saka Adeyemo     Shuaibu Yaman Abdullahi     Olaiya Victor Mobolaji     Kale Ayo     Nagode     Talaka Parapo     Aishat Sulu-Gambari     Moses Salami     Gani Saadu     Convocation Ceremonies     Baakini     Barakat Community Secondary School     Yahaya Seriki Gambari     Kwara Polytechnic     Ibrahim Oloriegbe     Kwara Pdp     Kwara Volleyball Association     Aliyu Salihu     Justina Oha     Saheed Popoola     Shehu Salau     Ilorin Anchor Men And Women     SWAN     Nigerian Correctional Service     Bayo Lawal     Gbajabiamila     Iliasu     Iyabo Adewuyi     Radio Kwara     Alabe     20 Billion Bond     Kwara State Government     Geri-Alimi Split Diamond Interchange     Dauda Adesola     Irepodun     Abdulahi Abubakar Bata     Kwara North     Kamaldeen Ajibade     Tunde Kazeem     Sa\'ad Alanamu     Kehinde Boyede     Amuda Musbau     Issa Baba     Sarkin Malamai     Shuaib Abdulkadir     IESA     CBT     Moshood Bakare     Sidikat Alaya     Kayode Zubair     Ahmed Alhasssan     Tsaragi/Share     Sheikh Ariyibi     Offorjama     Countryside Emerging Leaders Fellowship     TESCOM 2025     Iponrin     Henry Makinwa     Mufti Of Ilorin     Kpotum Mohammed Baba     Trade Lenda SME Fair     Yahaya Muhammad     Ramadhan     Mohammed Tunde-Jimoh     KWASEIC     Okin Biscuits    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Adeniyi Ojo     Okasanmi Ajayi     Toyin Saraki     Mahee Abdulkadir     Funmilayo Mohammed     Sunday Popo-Ola     Kayode Alabi     Fareedah Dankaka     Haashim Initiative For Community Advancement     Lawan     Turaki Of Ilorin     Bashirat Bola Bello     Elese Of Igbaja     Mansurat Amuda-Kannike     John Olajide Adedipe     SUBEB     Maryam Ado Bayero     Kwara State Sports Commission     Muhammed Taofeeq Abdulrazaq     Waziri Yakubu Gobir     Isiaq Khadeejah     Oniwa     Aishat Mohammed Lawal     Ope Saraki     Babajide Ajayi     Seed Technologies     Moses Adekanye     Abioye Bello     Samuel Olusegun Adedayo     Igosun     Share     Sa\'adu Salahu     Adedipe     Labour Party     Kwara University Of Education     Lasiele Alabi Yahaya     Chikanda     Tuesday Assayomo     Baruba     Yahaya Oloriegbe     Yusuf Amuda Gobir     Abdullahi Atanda     Amusement Park     Amos Bajeh     Nigerian Army     Ibrahim Issa Jetti     Hamza Usman     Christian Association Of Nigeria     Rotimi Oyedepo     Emir Of Lafiagi     Mahmud Durosinlohun Atiku     Dankaka     Hakeem Idris     Ramat Oganija     Shehu Salau     Split Diamond Interchange     Danhawa     Shururat Olatinwo     Chief Imam Of Ilorin     Kwara State Government     Katibi Ibraheem Adeola     Centre For Peace And Strategic Studies     Ilorin Water Reticulation     Amusa Bello     Mope Dasuki Belgore     Ilorin Durbar     Tafida Of Kaiama     Igbaja     Radio SBS     Gbemi Saraki     IHS     All Peoples Party     Orisa Bridge     Kola Bukoye     Shehu Alimi Foundation For Peace And Development     Cassava Growers\' Association     Khadijat Ayoola Yusuf