The contest for the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Kwara Central Senatorial District on Monday generated controversy as there were claims and counterclaims about the participation of the incumbent senator, Saliu Mustapha, in the race.
Mustapha had earlier denied his participation in the contest, saying that a document being circulated about that he was an aspirant cleared for the contest was fake.
A copy of the document shows that Mustapha and the incumbent governor of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, were the contestants for the ticket.
In the camp of the governor, there is a claim that Mustapha is a contestant and that he and the governor are locking horns in the contest.
The camp, which noted that Mustapha’s camp had denied participating in the primary election, insisted that despite the denial, the document shows that Mustapha was in the race.
A source from the camp claimed: “Governor AbdulRazaq is slugging it out with the serving Senator of the district, Mallam Saliu Mustapha despite earlier reports that he is not in the Senate race.
“A new official APC document has shown that the Turaki of Ilorin actually obtained form and was cleared to run for the seat.”
A former member of the House of Representatives Hon Abdulganiyu Cook Olododo, who spoke with newsmen on the sidelines of the election, said the contest between Governor AbdulRazaq and Senator Mustapha received impressive turnout of party loyalists in appreciation of the achievements of the APC-led government in the state and in the country.
“This is Ibagun Ward under Ilorin East. If you look at the turnout, there is no ward, whether primary, whether real election, in Ilorin East Local Government that can beat Ibagun Ward. We are always number one. With what happened today, you see that in Ibagun, there’s unity. Both the leaders and followers are one in APC.
“Two, what we are having today is a senatorial primary, where we have our leader, Governor of Kwara State, Sardauna of Ilorin Emirate, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, contesting for the senator seat in the next coming election, 2027, with the sitting senator in person of Turaki Ngeri of Ilorin, Senator Saliu Mustapha.
“The turnout shows that the governor is on ground. Saliu is from the Emirate too. Nobody denied that. But we have our leader and we know who’s our leader, the governor of the state. That is why you see the turnout. The figure shows who holds the ground,” Olododo stated.
While Mustapha’s camp is denying participating in the senatorial contest, it maintains that the senator is only contesting the governorship ticket of the APC in the 2027 election.
The camp faulted the document that parades Mustapha as a senatorial aspirant as fake as it pointed out an outright wrong in the document where the document listed “Kwara East” as a Senatorial district in Kwara State, while there is no Kwara East among the senatorial districts in the state.
The camp, in a statement issued by media aide to Mustapha, Nasif Sholagberu, said the politician did not obtain a nomination form for the senatorial contest and did not participate in the contest.
The statement reads: “For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Saliu Mustapha officially obtained APC Nomination Forms to contest for the Governorship of Kwara State in the 2027 General Elections. He did so openly, willingly, and publicly in full view of party leaders, stakeholders, supporters, and the general public.
“At no time did Senator Saliu Mustapha obtain nomination forms for the Senate, neither did he participate in or undergo any screening process for the Senatorial contest.
“We challenge anyone or group in possession of any document suggesting otherwise to publicly present credible evidence.
“Party members and the general public are advised to ignore the fake list and the desperate misinformation being circulated by mischief makers whose sole aim is to create confusion within the party.”