The governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed at the weekend affirmed that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state remains one indivisible entity under the leadership of former Governor now senator, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
Gov. Ahmed noted that the politics of the North-Central State had always been dictated by the late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki irrespective of thepolitical party in the saddle.
The governor, who made this known at the official flag-off of PDP campaign for the October 26 local government elections in the state, warned that no individual orgroup of people could hijack the party structure presently controlled by Senator Saraki, scion of the late Olusola Saraki.
Ahmed restated that PDP members in the state are “solidly behind” Saraki whom he said was leading them aright and urged the people not to be hoodwinked into believing that the party structure could be hijacked from him.
In a veiled reference to the purported split in Kwara PDP, Ahmed said, “They might be deceiving some people that the party structure is being handed over to them. It is all lies. Nobody is handing over the party structure to them because we don’t have another party in Kwara state. The only party structure we have in Kwara State is the one built by our father, late Dr. Olusola Saraki. Therefore, we have no cause to fear”.
Interspersing his speech in English with Yoruba and Hausa, the governor added, “We have one house, we have one family. This has been demonstrated in Offa and we must demonstrate it in all the 16 local governments. Anybody, who comes to tell you anything different like I told you, we shall defeat them”.
Stressing the uniqueness of Kwara politics, Ahmed added, “I want all of you to tour the whole country, you will discover the difference in Kwara State. The governance structure here is very unique; it is only in Kwara you see former Governor (referring to Senator Shaaba Lafiagi), the immediate past governor and the present governor working together. This is not the case in other states and that’s why we have been performing in spite of our little resources”.
Senator Saraki in his remarks, paid tribute to his late father for what he has built and done, saying, “In Kwara as the Governor said, we only move in one direction, we are one family and that is why Kwara is the only state where you can have the former governors and the present governor still working together. I challenge any state in the 36 states of Nigeria to produce that. It is not by chance, it is by the special grace of God.