Oloriewe Raheem Adedoyin
I read with amusement the article by one Adeniyi Ishola which, ostensibly to provoke interest, had the tendentious headline: “Has Abdulrahman fallen out of favour with Tinubu?”
To be sure, the underpinnings in the write up ought to be concerning to the cursory reader and many of the reactions following the publication should worry the gatekeepers in our profession
Deploying innuendos, blatant falsehood and conjectures, the writer laboured to build the illusion of an out-of-favour Governor Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara.
It is a piece falsely dressed at once as an investigative report as well as an opinion article. There is no doubt that the article on the governor has been weaponised for political purposes.
Dressed as news, the “report” does not even pass the basic test of reporting. Even as an opinion piece, it drips with bile. The writer sought woefully to paint the picture that the governor is no longer welcomed in the villa. In his imagination, he believes this is due to the sour relationship between him and President Bola Tinubu.
For a start, no one can tell when the president and the governor have sweet and sour relationships. That will be completely speculative. But for good, a president that had been a governor himself would not treat the governors shabbily. Definitely, not this president that applies wisdom in all that he does.
Now, what are the reasons offered by the writer for the alleged disfavour Kwara governor suffers from his president? The writer says the governor is a mere State Director in the recently released Presidential Campaign Council for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
If logic is not turned upside down, what should be the preoccupation of a governor who is facing a tough election battle if not to firmly hold his base? What is more important than the governor directing the operations for the success of the re-election of the president and all the candidates of APC?
Any right thinking leader would be more interested in putting in place a unified structure which will deliver victory across board for the All Progressives Congress in his state. Is it not also obvious that the eminent Kwarans named in the Presidential Campaign Council have constituencies beyond the state.? They will, however, work with the governor in Kwara.
Like a soldier of fortune desperate to deliver on a hatchet job, fantasis in the writer’s imagination collided with fallacies in his piece.
Only this can explain the salacious dishes served in the piece in respect of nominations into the Presidential Campaign Council.
The history of Governor AbdulRazaq does not support the fabrication that he pushed his family members for the Presidential Campaign Council. His family members have influence of their own and they don’t need the governor to push them for Presidential Campaign Council positions.
The governor will also not trade his nominations for his family. Many may recall that in the 2023 Tinubu /Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, two members of the governor’s family had their names published as Director and Deputy Director.
The governor was alarmed that not only were these gentlemen his siblings and cousin, five of the six Directors and Deputy Directors including himself were from his Ilorin West Local Government.
He insisted that the names he submitted as Director and Deputy Director be honoured. It was.
Furthermore, the political disagreement in Kwara has been elevated to a battering of the governor by his traducers. The governor is blamed for practically everything that is wrong with the party. No one accepts clear own-goals.
As governor, Abdulrasaq will not go to the mountain top to bandy his welter of achievements. His taciturn nature has invariably become his albatross and has turned him into an easy target in the power game.
We must, however, not be intimidated into accepting what is not true and what is not helpful. Governor AbdulRazaq cannot be held solely responsible for the direction and outcome of the party primaries.
Let the facts speak and I use my Kwara South Constituency as a case study. It has been the desire of the Igbomina people in Kwara South to send one of their own to the Senate, seek a House of Representatives seat in one federal constituency while ceding its hold on another.
For clarity, Kwara South comprises the Igbomina bloc (Ifelodun, Irepodun and Isin Local Governments), Ibolo bloc (Offa and Oyun) and Ekiti bloc (Ekiti and Oke Ero).
Since 1999, Ibolo has held the Senate seat for 11 years ( late Senator Rafiu Ibrahim from Oyun, 2015-2019 and Senator Oyelola Ashiru, Offa, 2019 to date). Ekiti held the Senate position through Senator Simeon Ajibola from Ekiti Local Government from 2005-2019. Igbomina held the seat in the red chamber through Senator Sulaimon Makanjuola Ajadi from Ifelodun Local Government 1999-2005. He lost the second term ticket after the courts nullified his re-election.
The Igbomina , with the dominant voting strength in Kwara South, canvassed so vigorously for the senatorial seat for 2027 that traditional rulers led the strong and aggressive advocacy.
There were other developments that worked in favour of Igbomina candidature for the Senate in Kwara South, all of which cannot, in good conscience, be blamed on the governor.
For the House of Representatives, the Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun Federal Constituency had virtually been monopolised by Ibolo bloc (Engr. Kola Shittu, Offa, 1999-2003; Rep. Deacon Taiye Opaleke, Offa 2003-2007; Rep. Chief Kolawole Yusuf, Ifelodun, 2007-2011; late Rep. Rafiu Ibrahim, Oyun, 2011-2015; Rep. Olarinoye Olayonu, Offa, 2015-2019; Rep. Ismail Tijani, Oyun 2019-2027).
So for Ifelodun, it has been only one term representation. Mercifully, Ifelodun can now represent the federal constituency in 2027 as the ruling party , APC, and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have picked their candidates from the local government.
At the other federal constituency ( Ekiti/Oke Ero/ Irepodun/ Is in), the Igbomina domesticated the federal seat ( Rep. Bashir Oni, Irepodun, 1999-2003; Rep. Akeem Ayedun, Isin, 2003-2007; Rep. Gbenga Makanjuola, Irepodun, 2007-2015( late Rep. Princess Funke Adedoyin, Irepodun, 2015-2017); Rep. Raheem Olawuyi Ajuloopin 2018-2027).
But for Ekiti bloc (Ekiti and Oke Ero,) it is zero representation for 27 years. APC has now given the Ekiti bloc its best chance to send a representative to the green chamber while the opposition PDP sticks to the old paradigm.
Instructively, the Kwara South outcomes reflect a familiar pattern of what the ordinary party members and different communities desire in other parts of the state. In a nutshell, the governor didn’t ochestrate or unilaterally determine the noble course of actions that have produced these profound and equitable primary outcomes.
The reality is that the governor has taken hits for his dogged pursuit of and support for equity, fairness and justice at gubernatorial and National Assembly levels.
May his sacrifices for an equitable and united State of Harmony not be in vain!
• Adedoyin, a former Kwara State Commissioner for Information and APC chieftain, represents Nigeria and Africa on the executive board of the International Press Institute.