- Dr. Seyi Adigun.
On May 29, 2019, even-gazed, genial-demeanoured Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq will be sworn in as the 7th elected governor of Kwara State.
His election on March 9, 2019 was a class act. It was the first time in Kwara that a governor will be elected against the dictates of the established political dynasty in the state. Indeed, the first signal of this tendency was the victory of Hon. Tunji Olawuyi (Ajuloopin) in the historic November 17, 2018 bye-election for Ekiti, Isin, Irepodun, Oke-Ero Federal Constituency. With the election of Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on March 9, 2019 and the clean sweep victory of the Kwara APC in all the state & national assembly legislative seats, the people of Kwara State have decided to move away from the stereotype of ‘the helpless citizens’. It is a time of departures.
In the build up to the elections, the political dynasty (clothed in the furs of the PDP) had hoped that the ranks of the opposition will divide spontaneously along conflicting lines of personal interests and ambitions.
Rather than break into splinters, opposition clout thickened on a daily basis to the dynasty's chagrin! In fact, one of the governorship aspirants, charismatic and gumption-filled Ambassador Yahaya Seriki Gambari emerged APC Director-General for the Governorship Campaign in Kwara Central – the state’s political hotbed.
Like Ambassador Yahaya Seriki Gambari, the other gubernatorial aspirants from the sapiential Hon. Mashood Mustapha, highly cerebral Lukman Olayiwola Mustapha (LOM), Professor Oba Abdulraheem, Alhaji Saliu Mustapha, Alhaji Yakub Gobir to the lead front-liners from Kwara North, Alhaji Yahman Abdullahi, Alhaji Tajudeen Makama Audu were unwavering in the impenetrable shield of cooperation which they formed to foster the success of the state-wide campaigns. Armed with the blatant failures of the ‘dynasty’ which had held the reins of power in Kwara for 16 uninterrupted years, APC's ferocious battle cry – O To Ge (enough is enough!) quickly erupted into a mass movement for change.
Hedged-in, the ‘dynasty’ fought in vain - the status-quo was already out of fad! Under the competent captaincy of elder statesman and prominent member of the federal cabinet, H/E Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Honourable Minister, Ministry of Information and Culture) and H/E. Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq (APC Gubernatorial Candidate – now Governor Elect of Kwara) the O To Ge Team members were relentless until the last block of the old political house was pulled to the anxious ground.
The fall of the dynasty in Kwara is more instructive in its symbolism than in its absoluteness; it is a didactic and eclectic phenomenon for all. No more mere spectators, the citizens have made an indelible statement. Political shenanigans; gerrymandering around critical issues of governance during campaigns and during tenancy of public office will no longer be condoned. Political negotiation, henceforth, must be hinged on clear public agenda and pivotal issues of common good; no longer on some phantom myths, personality affiliation or other redundant, retrogressive interests.
And in multiple similitude, from verdicts of the 2019 elections in varied locations, we hear these kinds of voices reverberate across Nigeria. From Bauchi to Oyo, from Imo to Ondo, from Adamawa to Rivers States – stories abound of how Nigerian electorates rejected stereotyped political choices. In place of political monologues, Nigerian citizens now demand for multilogue conversations on governance. The people seek to interrogate the political space and all forces at play in a more rigorous, accountable and stringent manner.
Despite the sad punctuation of the 2019 General Elections with elevated levels of violence and silly suspicions, a clear departure from electorate-zombism seems to prevail across the nation. Our democratic culture may be far from near ideal – very few de
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