The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has urged the Turaki of Ilorin, Mallam Saliu Mustapha, not to step down from the APC National Chairmanship race.

A large number of leaders and stakeholders of the party led by a former Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Benjamin Yisa, stated this during a solidarity visit to Mustapha’s country home in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Sunday.

The group told the chairmanship hopeful to rather intensify his campaign by seeking the support of other top shots in the party across the country.

“Mustapha’s aspiration was a collective decision of the state chapter of the party, and any decisions he has to take on the aspirations must resonate with a majority of party members and stakeholders in the state,” Yisa said.

“This contest is now beyond you. It has become bigger than you. It is no longer the aspiration of Saliu Mustapha, the individual. It is a representation of our collective destinies as a chapter, and as a people.”

Also speaking, a chieftain of the APC in Ilorin East Local Government, Hamza Salaudeen, said this is the first time in the history of politics in Kwara that there is unanimity on a political aspiration of an individual politician from the state, dead or alive.

On his part, a former legislator and chieftain of the party in Asa Local Government Area of the state, Mahmoud Baako, said it was too late for Mustapha to think of withdrawing from the chairmanship race now.

He said,”We are aware of the purported endorsement by the President. As long as we have not been properly communicated, this does not bother at all. This is not the time to withdraw. Rather, it is time to intensify our campaigns. We shall be with you all the way!”

Responding to the delegation, Mustapha thanked the chieftains of the party for their support and prayers and assured them of his continued commitment and loyalty to the party.

Mustapha particularly thanked the Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for his steadfastness.

He also thanked the party stakeholders in the state for their support, urging them not to relent in their efforts.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that 49-year-old Mustapha is said to be the youngest of the aspirants vying for the position of the APC’s national chairmanship.

He is a long-standing ally of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), from the latter’s days in the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party through to the CPC.