By Ishola Olanike
As Kwara gears up for the forthcoming local government elections, some members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have been making social media posts where they try to compare their party’s candidates with the candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. In their posts, they inquire, ‘Who is going to win?’, trying to sample the public opinion on their candidates, who analysts claim were imposed on them by Dr. Bukola Saraki.
An online news platform in the State has also joined the trend. In one of its recent publications, it asked, ‘Who does the cap fit?’. Under the inquiry were pictures of the APC chairmanship candidate for Ilorin West and his archrival Musbau Eshinrogunjo of the PDP, who observers have described as a “loudmouth” who does lots of talking rather than thinking. Expectedly, most of the people who commented on the post threw their weight behind the APC candidate.
Before the 2019 general elections, the PDP was the dominant party in the State, having ruled for 16 years. In its four terms on the saddle, analysts say the Party ruled with iron fists and clamped down on dissenting voices on several occasions. Analysts add that aside from using the State’s instruments against Kwarans who criticised the government’s anti-people policies, it also looted the State’s coffer and made a mess of Kwara’s once-alluring legacy infrastructures.
The 2019 general elections came with a revolutionary wind that blew the PDP and the Saraki dynasty away, paving the way for the progressive government of the APC. Analysts noted that Kwarans voted the PDP out because it was unfeeling to the plights of the people, citing how the last administration of former Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed halted civil servants’ promotions and owed salaries for months despite complaints of hunger across the State.
‘Kwara PDP, a circle of defeats’
Since the 2019 tsunami, every electoral season in Kwara has seen the candidates of the PDP losing to the candidates of the APC. In 2023, the PDP intensified their campaigns, going from house to house to sell their candidacies. Few days before the general elections, the former Senate President and leader of Kwara PDP, Saraki, was seen dancing in the middle of the road to a supposed victory song. However, on the days of elections, the PDP candidates were embarrassingly defeated.
Analysts have predicted that the September 21 local government polls will be another round of defeat for the PDP. They argue that the Party has not yet learnt any lessons from what led to its concomitant embarrassing defeats. They note that some members of the Party are fighting Saraki over the 2023 campaign funds he allegedly looted. In addition, observers say some PDP members aggrieved over Saraki’s imposition in the recent LG primaries are likely to work against the party.
‘Can PDP truly challenge APC?’
In the last few months, a number of members of the PDP have resigned from their positions from the party. From its State’s secretary, Alh Rasaq Lawal, to Prince Tunji Moronfoye, its publicity secretary, to its Women Leader, Alhaja Riskat Abdulahi, and its youth leader, Prince Haliru Mahmud, who fought Saraki tooth and nails over embezzled campaign funds before he eventually resigned early this year. The list can’t be exhausted.
Analysts contend that with these prominent figures’ departure from the PDP, the Party is not only going to perform woefully in the next local government polls, but it is also going to lose subsequent elections. They argue that the PDP has lost its steam and does not look like a Party that can win the APC in a serious election.
Ishola writes from Omu-Aran in Irepodun LGA of Kwara State.
Peoplesmind