By Adeniyi Ìṣhọlá
A few days ago, news emerged that Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq sponsored a delegation of selected monarchs from Kwara North and Kwara South senatorial districts, alongside some APC stakeholders loyal to him, on a trip to Abuja to lobby the presidency and national leadership of the APC to endorse the candidacy of Salihu Yakubu Danladi for the 2027 Kwara governorship election.
There is something fundamentally wrong and deeply troubling about this development, and this should worry every Kwaran. It’s unconscionable and condemnable, not only for what it says about the desperation of Governor Abdulrahman, but for what it does to the dignity, neutrality, and integrity of the traditional institution. Whatever explanation is offered, the optics are embarrassing and troubling.
Traditional rulers occupy a sacred and non-partisan space in our society. Their authority derives not from political alignment but from their role as fathers to all, irrespective of party affiliation, political loyalty, or electoral preference. The moment a traditional ruler is seen doing the political bidding of a politician, that neutrality is compromised, and with it, the moral authority that makes the traditional institution relevant and respected.
Governor Abdulrahman knows this. Yet he chose to conscript these monarchs into his political permutations and send them on an incongruous errand, a decision that speaks volumes about the depth of his desperation to keep Danladi as his party’s governorship candidate and, by extension, secure his own political future beyond office. It is an unconscionable abuse of the influence a sitting governor wields over traditional rulers, who by the nature of their positions are often vulnerable to pressure from state executives who control their emoluments, recognition, and welfare.
Governor Abdulrahman’s decision to drag traditional rulers into an internal APC political contest is both unfortunate and dangerous. Every discernable and decent Kwaran must condemn this in the strongest possible terms. Traditional rulers must be exempted from partisan politics. Their thrones demand it. And political leaders must respect it.
I’ve since observed how supporters of the governor were quick to market an alternative explanation for this royal fathers’ political trip to Abuja. They claimed the monarchs did not travel to Abuja to lobby for Danladi’s candidacy, but rather to mediate the internal crisis within the APC. This argument is both ridiculous and laughable.
Since when did the settlement of disputes within a political party become the constitutional or traditional responsibility of monarchs? Traditional rulers are custodians of culture, tradition, and community values, not committees to settle disputes among members of political parties. That framing alone should embarrass those promoting it.
But even if one generously accepts this explanation at face value, it raises further questions. Why would first-class traditional rulers travel all the way to Abuja to mediate an internal disagreement within a state chapter of a political party? What has become of the Appeal Committee set up by the national leadership of the APC specifically to address disputes arising from party primaries conducted by state chapters of the party?
And perhaps most tellingly: if these traditional rulers have now assumed responsibility for resolving political disputes, will they extend this commitment to other political parties in the state? Will they mobilise to reconcile aggrieved members of the PDP, the SDP, the Labour Party, or other political platforms operating in Kwara? Or is this newfound passion for political mediation exclusively reserved for the APC?
The answers to these questions are obvious. The involvement of these monarchs in this matter creates the unmistakable and damaging impression of institutional partisanship. And that is precisely why so many Kwarans across party lines are deeply concerned.
What makes the Abuja poltical trip of these traditional rulers even more disappointing and difficult to stomach is the timing and context in which it has occurred. Kwara State is currently facing the most serious security challenges in its history. Hundreds of citizens remain in captivity. Among them are the 176 women and children abducted from Woro community over four months ago. Their families continue to endure pain, uncertainty, and anguish while their fate remains unknown.
While the monarchs found the energy and willingness to travel to Abuja on a governor’s political errand, they have maintained a largely deafening silence in the face of the banditry, kidnappings, killings, and mass displacement that have devastated communities across Kwara State. There has been no mobilisation of traditional rulers to demand urgent action from government authorities. For both political and traditional leaders, the same urgency displayed in political matters has been conspicuously absent when it comes to the lives and safety of ordinary Kwarans.
Not even the abduction and eventual death of a fellow traditional ruler could stir the royal fathers to to take a collective action. Last week, it was confirmed that Oba Salman Aweda, the traditional ruler of Olayinka community in Ifelodun local government area, died after spending two months in captivity, even after his family paid a ransom of N21million. Besides that, several palaces of traditional rulers in Kwara North and South have been attacked by bandits and terrorists over the last couple of months. About a month ago, terrorists set ablaze the palace of the Emir of Yashikira in Kaiama local government area of Kwara and abducted several residents, including wives and children of the monarch.
If the abduction and killing of a fellow traditional ruler, attacks on palaces cannot inspire a united response from traditional institutions, one is left wondering what exactly can. The contrast is as stark as it is damning. Silent on insecurity. Silent on kidnapping. Silent on the deaths of their own subjects and fellow monarchs. But available and apparently eager to travel to Abuja in the service of a governor’s selfish political agenda.
Kwara’s traditional rulers should be deploying their influence and moral authority to advocate for solutions to insecurity, rural underdevelopment, economic hardship, and the release of hundreds of abducted citizens from the captivity of terrorists and bandits. Those are the matters that affect every Kwaran, regardless of political affiliation. The succession plans and internal disagreements of a political party are best left to the politicians who created them.
*Ìṣhọlá writes from Ilorin
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