Ajibola blames PDP loss in Kwara on "wave of change"
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Kwara State, Senator Simeon Sule Ajibola, attributed the failure of the party to win any National Assembly seat in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections to low level of voter education.
He noted that the party was a victim of the national wind of change, saying the outcome of the election indicated that many people wanted to vote for APC presidential candidate and therefore voted for all the party's candidates.
Ajibola stated this while meeting with members of the 2015 Press Week Committee of the Kwara State Council of Nigeria Union of Nigeria (NUJ) in Ilorin.
Daily Trust reports that during the last election, APC won the presidential election and all the nine National Assembly elections in Kwara State.
Ajibola reiterated that the state APC leveraged on the popularity of the APC presidential candidate, General Mohammadu Buhari in the last election.
He, however, expressed confidence that the outcome of the last elections would not in any way have negative effect on his aspiration to emerge the next governor in the state.
The PDP governorship candidate stated that leadership of the party should not be blamed for the outcome of the election as being made to believe in some quarters.
He said, "The outcome (of the elections) did not in any way discourage or have any negative effect on my own aspiration. Agreed that we least expected what the result turned out to be, we were thinking that we would be able to achieve, at least, 70 per cent of success, but it turned the other way round.
"After the analysis of the result nationwide, I discovered that there is a general desire for a change at National level that cuts across a very sizeable part of this country. And this one was achieved through the determination of the electorate. It is that wind of change that in turn affected our National Assembly candidates because the level of voters' enlightenment programme was very low.
"People could not even readily differentiate the ballot paper that was meant for presidential, the ballot paper that was meant for senatorial and the ballot paper that was meant for the House of Representatives. You would not believe it, I also saw that ballot paper for the first time. The INEC was not too fair to voters generally by not letting us know the kind of colour. It is only even by the margin that differentiates this ballot paper.
"You know Kwara State, particularly in Kwara North and rural areas, teeming voters can neither read nor write. They could only vote by symbol, and since a lot of these people had Buhari (president-elect) in mind, that is what they voted all along. That now made us a casualty of the wave of change to bring Buhari to power.
"But the general opinion in Kwara State is that we desire change too in Kwara, positive change. God being on our side, by Saturday, that kind of thing that happened, would also happen in our favour such that both the gubernatorial candidate of PDP and the House of Assembly candidates, we will likely achieve 100 per cent".
Cloud Tag: What's trending
Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.
Gobirawa Moji Makanjuola Olufolake Abdulrazaq Kupchi Hosea Maxwell Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye Kwara North Moses Afolayan Jumoke Monsura Gafar Sai Kayi Harmony Holdings Ayeyemi Sulaiman Rafiu Olasile Baaziki Sulaiman Okeose Christian Cementary Saka Abimbola Isau Lukman Oyebanji Fagbemi Olatunji Abdulmumeen Kwara 2015 Principal Private Secretary Tunji Oyawoye Bayo Mohammed Onimode Emir Of Lafiagi Abdulmumini Jawondo Ayotunde Emmanuel Alao Saidu Yaro Musa Elekoyangan Solomon Edojah March 28 Hausa Yusuf Abdulkadir Reuben Paraje Muhammad Yahya Saliu Oluwole New Naira Notes David Oyedepo Noah Yusuf Chief Imam Of Omu-Aran Kwara State Council Of Chiefs Abatemi-Usman Magaji Erubu Samuel Olusegun Adedayo M.Y. Abdulrahaman Baakini KWASIEC ENetSuD Lithium Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Abiodun Musa Aibinu Maryam Ado Bayero Yahaya Dumoye Yunus Lawal Olaiya Lawal Goodluck Jonathan Modibo Kawu Minimum Wage Ajikobi RTEAN Ilesha-Baruba Ibrahim Abiodun Dauda Adesola Special Agro-Industrial Hub Maigida Saliu Tunde Bello Mahmud Ajeigbe Muslim Stakeholders Of Kwara State Abatemi Usman IQRA College Kale Bayero Taiwo Joseph KSIRS Dasuki Belgore Arik Nigeria Foundation For Artificial Intelligence Idofin NTA Ilorin Kwara Coalition Of Business And Professional Associations Toyin Sanusi

