Member of the elders caucus and governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State have raised the alarm over an alleged plot to coarse traditional rulers in the state to back the speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon .Yakubu Danladi- Salihu, as the party’s governorship candidate.
The aggrieved aspirants and elders said they had uncovered plot by those bent on foisting Danladi- Salihu on the APC as its governorship candidate, to mobilise traditional rulers for a visit to President Bola Tinubu to thank him for accepting and endorsing the speaker as the party’s candidate for the 2027 general elections.
They also dismissed reports that the aspirants had resolved to back the director general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA),Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu as their preferred candidate, saying the NOA DG never obtained nomination form.
They raised the alarm during a meeting with the national leadership of the APC held on Wednesday and Thursday.
The 10 gubernatorial aspirants who were said to be in attendance at the meeting include, Dr. Bashir Bolarinwa, Senator Salihu Mustapha, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, Alh. Tajudeen Audu, Dr. Toyin Alabi, Hon. Mohammed Omar, Dr. Muyideen Salako, Dele Belgore (SAN), Amb. Yahya Seriki and Capt. Ahmad Mahmud.
The chairman of the Kwara APC Elders Caucus, Chief James Ayeni, who led the delegation to the meeting emphasised that there was no governorship primary election held in the state that produced the speaker and that they party at no time pick him as it consensus candidate.
“To the best of our knowledge, the party has not published the endorsement of any candidate in Kwara State. We would therefore like to caution the planners and masterminds of this desperate attempt, not to drag our highly respected royal fathers into an intra-party matter and affair. It is a settled fact that traditional rulers are fathers of all, irrespective of political inclination and they are insulated from partisan political calculations,” they said.