Politics

Kwara PDP Primary: Saraki relocates to Ilorin

…insists on level playing ground for aspirants

…as Kwara Speaker, Ali Ahmad withdraws from race

Party blames fifth columnists over disruption of primary

…rescheduled exercise holds today

By Mumini AbdulKareem

The Senate President and National Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, last night, relocated to Ilorin from Abuja in connection with the disruption of the party’s governorship primaries on Sunday.

Saraki who had stayed back in the Federal Capital city while the primarily election in Ilorin was on-going, left Abuja 9.10pm for his home state.

Though it was not clear when his flight touched down but top sources confirmed that the former Kwara State governor is already in the state before this paper went to bed.

The primary election which was held at the twin venues of Kwara Hotel and the state Banquet hall for accreditation and voting in that order became a subject of intense disagreement while voting was going on which subsequently led to its disruption.

In a statement released by the Media Aide to the Senate President, Yusuph Olaniyonu, last night, a copy which was made available to National Pilot, Saraki maintained that he will allow the people (delegates) to decide on who emerged the party’s candidate at the end of the exercise despite his influence in the politics of the state.

He further pledged to work in order to ensure that the party primaries in the state remain credible.

Many of the aspirants in the race for the candidate of the PDP in the state are Saraki’s political associates and loyalists.

Saraki, in the statement, reemphasised that he had no preferred candidates but believes that competence, popularity and acceptability, must be the deciding factors in the selection of the party’s gubernatorial candidate.

“…As stated at various fora, and as expressed to the gubernatorial aspirants at a meeting held in the early hours of September 25th, 2018, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had no preferred candidate for the party primaries held today (Sunday).

“Dr. Saraki believes that competence, popularity and acceptability, must be the deciding factors in the selection of the party’s gubernatorial candidate, as such, due to the fact that many of the aspirants in question meet all three criteria, he has stated that a level-playing field must be provided for all the aspirants to vie for the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP in Kwara”, the statement added.

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