The fact that the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN pulled crowd in the 2011 Kwara State election is not hidden, but it is also clear that its crowd was less than PDP's.

If not for the division and the decamping of prominent members, ACN would have won the election like it did in Ogun, Oyo, and other Yoruba speaking states of Nigeria.

Issue's That Favored ACN: The eventual taking over of Ekiti and Osun State by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) after much battle in court gave the party a convincing victory and confidence in the heart of the people across the Yoruba speaking states and Kwara inclusive. The court victory made the people to believe that a vote for ACN is not a lost vote, if rigged it can still be regained.  Unlike in 2007 election, where the people voted en mass for Gbenga Olawepo, the DPP candidate, but was rigged and nothing came out after the court battle. The people now believed that the ACN has what it takes to enforce the rule of law and reclaim a stolen mandate. Although, ACN were unable to reclaim the mandate of Arc. Lola Ashiru whom many believed won the Kwara south senatorial election in 2007 and that of Bilkisu Gambari of the Kwara Central. But the strength shown by ACN in Ekiti and Osun state was too strong for the people to resist in their quest for credible alternative.

The Kwara state Local Government election was also another morale booster which gave the people renewed confidence and conviction in their support for ACN. This was a time when no other political party contested the local government election for the reason given that the voter's registration list was overhyped and characterized with several errors. Not even ACN contested the election except in Offa Local Government and a few others, where the people insisted on participating which they did through the sponsorship of Arc. Lola Ashiru.

At the end of the LG election, PDP won all the Local Governments except in Offa where violence erupted. After some contest and protest, the election was cancelled and re-conducted and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won the chairmanship and the entire Offa LG councillorship. This clearly gave the people another reason to hold on to their support for ACN and it also shows that ACN is a force to be reckoned with.

 The Genesis of the Problem: Before the electioneering period in the state, if ACN is mentioned in Kwara state, Lai Muhammad, Lola Ashiru, Bilkisu Gambari and others are the recognized figures. Since Lai Mohammed is no longer active in the state, Lola Ashiru and Bilkisu Gambari took over the leadership of the party. These two are the figures recognized as ACN and they constantly made their presence felt.

The people on ground in  Kwara, i.e. Lola Ashiru ,the 2007 Senatorial candidate of  Kwara South  and Bilkisu Gambari, The 2007 senatorial candidate of  Kwara Central and others after losing the 2007 election started the preparing for the 2011 election immediately after the court battle. They had been spending so much to keep the party together and strategizing for victory. They had noted two prospective candidates for 2011 governorship (Kale Belgore and Lola Ashiru). But the imposition of Dele Belgore, An outsider and an assumed stooge in the hand of Tinubu on the existing structure against their support caused the chaos.

Tinubu rejected both Kale Belgore and Lola Ashiru, he preferred Dele, someone whom many believed was chosen to do Tinubu's bidding. Their argument was that, Dele Belgore never participated in any political struggle be it in Kwara or anywhere else and he was not even an ACN member known in the state before then. He was just known as an associate of Fashola as a lawyer in Lagos. Upon his imposition, the Kwara chapter of ACN fought against such imposition, but the ACN godfather made it clear that he is not changing his mind. Tinubu tried to woe several other party top wings like Iyiola Oyedepo, Berende and others to support his move which they did.

This was why Bilkisu Gambari said, we can't be fighting against a Kwara godfather just to give ourselves to a Lagos overlord. She concluded that Tinubu had decided and will not change his mind and if this is case, she would rather stay away from ACN than be part of those who shall subject our people to a foreign dictatorship. It was as a result of this that she left the party for CPC, a new platform.

Lola Ashiru and others urged her to stay so they could fight Tinubu's imposition together, but she said, Tinubu had already decided and I have decided too. I would rather urge you all to abandon ACN for they are worse than the Saraki's and join me in CPC, so we could build a stronger party together.

Lola Ashiru insisted he would fight the battle till the end and would not leave a party he built with his time, passion and money. He remained in ACN and always insisted on taking the governorship ticket or at least give it to another worthy candidate besides Dele Belgore.

When the pressure was much, Tinubu was forced to make justification for his choice, he gave the reason for the choice of Dele Belgore by saying that, Saraki is from Ilorin and Ilorin determines the outcome of the election, ACN needed a reputable name that can compete favorably against Saraki and this criteria automatically push Lola Ashiru out of the choice because he is from Offa. But many believed that this was not the real situation, because Kale Belgore who was initially among the two prospective candidates is an older family cousin of Dele Belgore from the same family (Ilorin). If Tinubu was sincere about his choice, why not consider Kale Belgore as the candidate, instead of choosing an assumed novice from Lagos against his own family brother?

 It took maturity from Kale Belgore to gently and quietly walk out of ACN after he feel betrayed by his own brother, someone he trusted and confided in whom suddenly changed to being his opponent. From some revelation, It was gathered that Kale Belgore having known that Dele is an associate of Fashola both whom are close to Tinubu, he confided in him (Dele) to seek the assistance of Tinubu in getting the governorship ticket ahead of Lola Ashiru. But instead of helping his cousin Kale, Tinubu opted to use him (Dele).

Out of the blues cames Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, a well known man in the polity of Kwara state from the reputable royal family of Alimi in Ilorin. Abdulrazaq joined ACN and threw himself to the governorship contest. It was believed that Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman was encouraged to join ACN by Bilkisu Gambari who hoped to see Lola Ashiru and Abdulrahman defeat Tinubu, so she could come back to the party to contest as a senator. This further exposed the hidden mission of Tinubu on the choice of Belgore. If truly Tinubu needed a reputable candidate from a reputable family to contest, he had Abdulrazaq who was even more popular to compete with the Saraki's. In fact, Lola Ashiru confided in some people that he would be stepping down if Abdulrazaq will be considered for the ticket. But because Tinubu had already decided, he insisted on Dele Belgore rather than go for Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, a better candidate with a better political reputation. Both Lola Ashiru and Abdulrazaq fought to make Tinubu change his mind for the benefit of all but to no avail.

The struggle of who gets the ACN governorship ticket continued until the last day of submission stipulated by INEC.

I know you may want to ask about the primary election, but there was none. Lola Ashiru and Abdulrazaq were denied access to nomination form to contest the primaries, only Dele Belgore took the form and he remained the candidate. Though, both Ashiru and Abdulrazaq insisted on contesting the primaries and if Dele wins, they had no choice than to support his candidature, but Tinubu denied both of them the chance to contest the primaries and Dele Belgore was announced as the governorship candidate of the party.

Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman later left ACN  to CPC where he joined Bilkisu Gambari, he contested the primary election and won its governorship ticket and Lola Ashiru joined ACPN, the new party of Saraki where his daughter, Gbemi Saraki was the governorship candidate to contest against Bukola Saraki's PDP candidate, AbdulFatah Ahmed. Arc. Lola Ashiru was given the Kwara South Senatorial ticket under ACPN.

The reason given by Lola Ashiru to join ACPN was that, he would rather support a Kwara godfather who spread the resources among the people of Kwara than join those who are trying to hand over the state to a Lagos Dictator. He was widely criticized for his decision because he was seen as a long time opposition to Saraki. His choice to me was as well wrong considering the fact that he could have joined the CPC platform where other supposed credible oppositions were.

 Parties Went Separate as ACN Embarked on Massive Propaganda: Having lost its prominent members with mass decamping from the party, ACN embarked on the electioneering campaign with massive propaganda against the 2007 governorship runner up in the person of Gbenga Olawepo, the candidate of Democratic People's Party (DPP).

First, they claimed Gbenga Olawepo sold his vote in 2007 election, a rumor once spread by Olawepo's opponent in 2007. They preached this sermon to every part of the state to rebuild the collapsed structure of ACN after the departure of key prominent members and this tactics worked immensely. They further spread a rumor that Gbenga Olawepo had decamped to ACN which turned out to be lies. The tactics adopted was a systematic approach to appeal to Olawepo's supporters. ACN gave a man named Sunday Olawepo the State acting chairman of the Party, but the name Olawepo is a household name which is known to be a Governorship candidate under DPP and a runner up in the 2007 election against the then incumbent Governor Bukola Saraki. So, when ACN announced the name of its new acting chairman, it said Olawepo instead of Sunday Olawepo as the full name. Then it spread the news across to the people that Olawepo has joined ACN and he is now the state's party chairman.

Many supporters of Gbenga Olawepo with the anger of what they heard about him selling their votes in 2007 and now decamping to ACN felt betrayed. The ACN were moving from house to house to convince people about how Olawepo sold their votes in 2007 and how they offered him a chance to join ACN. They claimed Olawepo joined because there was no hope for his party and ACN is the alternative. This is the explanation behind the bad performance of Gbenga Olawepo in the 2011 governorship outing. Before Olawepo's Campaign Organization and Party could react to this rumor, it has gone beyond redemption. Every effort on radio to debunk the rumor of him joining ACN was not effective enough to bring his lost supporters back.

This was the same Olawepo who confronted Saraki and fought him single handedly in 2007; he was the first person in the history of Kwara state to challenge the Sarakis in the court of law on the basis of election rigging. Olawepo was the same person whose car was shot twice during the tribunal after 2007 election. Yet, he was accused of selling his votes.

This was how both Gbenga Olawepo under DPP, Dele Belgore under ACN and Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman under CPC went out and lost the 2011 election.

You may think Gbemi Saraki is missing here, but never mind that is another issue entirely

But because ACN had more funds from Tinubu, Lagos, Ekiti and Osun which was rumored to be around N1.8billion, they were able to compete favorably with funds with PDP, but eventually lost.

Abdulrazaq O. Hamzat, discus4now@yahoo.com

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