Hammed Shittu, in Ilorin, looks at New PDP’s hold on power in Kwara State after a sweep to victory in the recent local government election 

The just concluded local government election in Kwara State was an affirmation of a seemingly unchallenged influence of New Peoples Democratic Party in the affairs of Peoples Democratic Party in the state. The Kwara State arm of the splinter group, led by Senator Bukola Saraki, currently has little or no opposition.

Court Cases

Prior the election, there were series of insinuations over the choice of the candidate. The Bamanga Tukur-led national leadership of PDP had filed a suit challenging the leadership of the party in the state headed by the state chairman, Alhaji Isola Balogun-Fulani, and Saraki, who is also the senator for Kwara Central senatorial district, over the choice of candidates.

Three chairmanship aspirants, who had lost during the primaries of the PDP, filed a counter suit at the Federal High Court, Ilorin, asking the court to stop the council polls. They alleged that the primary election that produced the candidates for the council poll was faulty and asked the court to restrain the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission from conducting the polls.

The plaintiffs were Alhaji Ademola Yusuf, Alhaji Adebayo Jimoh, and Prince Haliru Dantosho Mahmud, while the defendants were the state PDP, Saraki and Balogun-Fulani.

Also joined in the case were all the chairmanship candidates of the councils, KWSIEC, Inspector-General of Police and Director-General, Department of State Service.

The court presided over by Justice Olayinka  Faaji adjourned the case till October 28 and this eventually allowed the PDP led by Fulani to the conduct penultimate Saturday’s local government councils polls in the state.

In Defence of the Candidates

Balogun-Fulani defended the candidates, insisting that they emerged through proper elections.  He cited a letter to the state PDP from the national secretariat of PDP in Abuja, dated August 19, 2013 and signed by Acting National Organising Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Yusuf Amisu Abubakar, entitled, “Monitoring of Councillorship and chairmanship primaries for Local Government Councils Elections in Kwara State,” to buttress his point.

The letter confirmed that the national leadership of the party sent a five-man committee comprising Hon. Mayowa Akinfolarin(chairman), Ezimie Okwue(member), Zanna Kaga (member), Solomon Katuka (member), and Usuf Issa Igabi (member/ Secretary).

The letter said, “The above named persons have been appointed by the national working committee of PDP to serve on the monitoring committee for councillorship and chairmanship primaries elections in Kwara State.”

The letter, which also said that the exercise would hold from August 26 to 27, advised the state leadership of PDP to accord them the team necessary support and cooperation for the success of the assignment.

In another letter written by Balogun- Fulani to the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on August 27, titled “List of candidates for chairmanship and councillorship councils elections in the state on October 26, 2013,” the state party chairman stated, “We forward herewith the list of our councillors and chairnanship candidates for the election into our 181 electoral wards and 15 chairmanship candidates to 15 local government councils. Please accept the assurances of our esteem regards.”

Balogun-Fulani addressed a press conference at the state secretariat of PDP two days to the local government election, urging members of the public to disregard a new list of candidates that had emerged.

PDP Disowns Candidates

However, there was another twist to the election as there was speculation on the day of the election that the national secretariat of PDP had declared that it had no hand in the council election and called on the security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police, to keep off.

But, the police were on ground on that day of election to maintain law and order and the election was conducted in a free and peaceful manner.

The election recorded a large turn-out as voters from all the parts of the state trooped out to vote for the candidate of their choice.

Reaction

The national chairman of New PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, who voted at his Baboko ward 1 on the day of the election, decried the rumour of withdrawal of the police, saying, “No letter was received from the national secretariat purportedly directing the security not to participate in the election conducted by the State Independent Electoral Commission.”

He said, “We were here about two months ago to prepare for this election and to receive officials from the national secretariat of PDP whom we have written to, to send in its team to come and screen these candidates for today. And they’ve screened them. There are correspondences. These correspondences are available in the secretariat of PDP, Kwara State.

“So if another letter comes, somebody is creating confusion somewhere. The electoral law is very clear. The electoral law gives a certain number of days that no party can change a candidate. The law is there, people don’t know the law. They think they can sit down at the corners of their room and then just dish out orders. These are the kinds of things we are telling Nigerians, that Nigerian electorate is so enlightened nowadays. You cannot just sit down at the corners of your room and think you can dish out orders. We follow the law.”

In his own reaction to the development, chairman, House of Representatives committee on justice, Hon. Ali Ahmad, described the allegation of withdrawal of candidates as uncalled for. Ahmad, who represents Ilorin East/Ilorin South federal constituency of Kwara State, said, “Even if it’s a rumour, we heard it all what the illegally-minded executive (Tukur) are doing. These are people who give no regard to the constitution of the party or the laws of this nation or constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For you to even write that your people are authentic candidates in the election, you need a number of days.”

Saraki said, “The turnout of voters at the council election showed that they have confidence in the political leadership of the state…

“There was enough reason for apathy.  I laud the people of Kwara State for the way they turned out for the election. When you look at the factors now, national and state issues and the fact that going to the election, the major opposition party, due to no fault of ours but the fault of theirs, and a few others did participate, one would have thought that if there was no commitment or interest and support from the people of Kwara State to the party, you would not have seen this kind of turnout.

“The people of Kwara State have shown their confidence in us and it is now up to us to take it to the next level.”

Crushing Victory

All the candidates of PDP for both the chairmanship and councillorship positions won in the 15 local government councils in the state. The results were announced by the chairman of KWSIEC, Dr. Uthman Ajidagba. No date has been fixed for the swearing-in of the newly elected chairmen and councilors.

While the disagreements between the PDP national headquarters and New PDP in Kwara State remain in the court of law and public opinion, the clear message from penultimate Saturday’s local government election in the state is that the breakaway faction of PDP is firmly in charge in the State of Harmony.