The election that will produce occupant of the Government House, Ahmadu Bello Way, Ilorin 2023 and 2027 will hold next year.
Residents of Kwara state are constitutionally empowered to speak through their votes and decide who will earn victory in the forthcoming guber election.
Global Excellence here analyses the factors that stand as advantages and disadvantages for the leading political parties, why the contest may be fierce and the possible way the pendulum would swing.
It has appeared seemingly like a fiercest rivalry between the APC and the PDP but the emergence of a third force is not unlikely.
The two political families ; Abdulrazaq and Saraki have also featured prominently , while former senator Gbemisola Saraki is a member of the federal cabinet and a member of the APC, her brother , Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki is a PDP presidential aspirant who has also made mission to re-launch himself in Kwara state politics important.
Intra-party conflict and zoning will surface as key issues that may influence the way things will go.
The state APC had for more than two years now gotten factionalized and had two people laying claim to chairmanship. Parallel congress was also held in the state.
While Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq heads a faction, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed has stood as the face of those who are the anti-Abdulrazaq people.
The governor however got the upper hand a few days ago with the decision of the national secretariat of the party to recognize his acolyte, Prince Sunday Fagbemi as Kwara state APC Chairman leaving Lai Muhammed and the Chairman of his faction, Hon Bashir Bolarinwa in the limbo.
It was not clear if the Bolarinwa faction will be leaving the APC for another party or not . Many political pundits have submitted that emergence of a third force has become inevitable.
A prominent member of the party, Alhaji Yakubu Gobir had last year had his supporters leaving the APC for the YPP while he remains a member of the ruling party.
Another factor that will shape the election is ‘zoning’. The state PDP has already announced decision to allow the Kwara North senatorial district produce its gubernatorial candidate.
Governor Abdulrazaq is an indigene of Ilorin, Kwara Central and he will be seeking reelection.
While this may result in sympathy vote for Abdulrazaq in Kwara Central, it may also make whoever emerges as PDP guber candidate get a bloc vote in the Kwara North.
-Akinlolu Abayomi
