Stephen Oladele, Ilorin
Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Yakubu Salihu Danladi has been presented the governorship nomination form of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), signalling that he has been confirmed the candidate of the party for the state governorship election in 2027.
The speaker was one of the 16 aspirants who vied for the party’s governorship ticket and he was announced the winner of the contest at the end of a primary election conducted in May.
His emergence as the winner is however being contested by at least10 of the aspirants in the race who are alleging that he was imposed on the party by the governor of the state, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
But on Tuesday, while presenting the nomination form to Danladi, the state chairman of the party, Sunday Fagbemi, hinted that the National Working Committee of the party has released the name of the speaker as the winner of the contest after complaints of the Aggrieved aspirants have been brought before it and the appeal committee.
Fagbemi, said it was imperative for his executive organ to present the winner the nomination form to fill and submit to the INEC, following the ratification of his victory at the primaries by the APC National Headquarters.
“Before now, we have conducted the primaries. There have been winners for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, the Senate and the Gubernatorial, but the National Headquarters of our party said we should not announce,”
“The National Working Committee of our party has gone through all the processes, especially those that have complaints. People who had complaints have ventilated their complaints to the Appeal Committee who have equally gone through them. So, NWC has come out with the candidates. And It is now our duty to give them the forms to fill so that they will be uploaded to the INEC portal. This is what we have done in the office.
“The one that we are unveiling here today is that of the gubernatorial candidate, who is Rt. Hon Yakubu Salihu Danladi. So, on behalf of the National Chairman of our party, I am handing this form over to our candidate,” he stated.
In his reaction, Danladi thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Abdulrazaq, and the leadership of the party both at the National and state level for their support and trust to fly the flag of the party in the 2027 general elections.
He also thanked the co-contesters for their participation and promised his readiness to carry them along.
“We thank God Almighty, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the National Chairman of our party. We also thank the leader of the party in the state, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and the state executives and other major stakeholders of the party.
“There are reconciliations going on already as is usual with party primaries. Sixteen of us who contested know that a winner must emerge and a winner has emerged and it is now left for us to carry everyone along and we will definitely do that.
“By His grace, APC is one family, and we are going to be more united and much stronger. We thank all Kwarans. We will not disappoint you and God Almighty will guide us,” he stated.
The brief event was attended by members of the state House of Assembly, cabinet members, party executives, elders, and women groups.
