Kwara State All Progressives Congress governorship primary election may have come and gone, but the memory of the intrigues, suspense and high wire manipulation which characterized the exercise has remained indelible.

At least close to 17 aspirants emerged with keen interest to contest the primary election of the party for the gubernatorial ticket.

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had earlier pledged that he would prefer the next governor under the platform of the APC to come from Kwara North Senatorial District, because the region had long been sidelined in the history of political governance in the state.

Consequently, speculation of who takes over from Governor Abdulrazaq centred on the current Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Engr Yakubu Danladi Salihu as the heir apparent.

DAILY POST reports that names of three prominent aspirants Senator Salihu Mustapha, Bashir Bolarinwa and Femi Araba had earlier circulated widely among party members in the state prior to the primary election, with insinuation that the presidency had interest in a particular aspirant close to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

That was the picture presented until few hours  to the governorship primary election of the party when Governor Abdulrazaq named his anointed aspirant in person of Yahaya Seriki as his preferred successor in office, a development which sent shockwaves to party members and political watchers in the state.

Amid the confusion created by the development, reports said a meeting of all the aspirants was summoned last Thursday by the governor at the Banquet Hall, Government House in Ilorin, but only one aspirant, Barrister Belgore attended, while others boycotted the meeting.

The aborted banquet meeting was trailed by announcements of aspirants refuting their purported withdrawal from the primary election for an aspirant among them.

Apart from the Director General of the National Legislative Institute, Abuja, Professor Abubakar Suleiman who announced his withdrawal from the exercise, all others declared they were still in the race, compounding the already confused loyalists of the party in the state.

The aggrieved aspirants opted for direct primary instead of consensus arrangement which the party leadership favored at both national and state levels.

The political space became more tensed when the Thursday primary election conducted through direct primary was abruptly halted by the national leadership of the party while it was ongoing.

Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who announced the cancellation, disclosed that Friday, the following day, had been fixed for the primary election exercise, blaming the development on logistic issues.

The primary election eventually held on Friday with the Speaker, Yakubu Danladi Salihu, emerging as the winner against all speculations within the party.

Chairman of the primary election, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who announced the results at the Banquet Hall, disclosed that Yakubu Danladi polled 94,990 votes to beat his closest challenger, Yahaya Seriki who scored 41,700 and Dr Bashir Bolarinwa who got 22,118 votes.

Results of the other candidates showed that Engr Femi Sani polled 5519 votes, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe 3,920, Barrister Mohammed Dele Belgore 3,411, Mohammed Bio 1122, Dr Alabi Oluwatoyin 1,099, Professor Wale Suleiman 2,434, and Professor Abubakar Suleiman 1722 votes.

Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii has been declared winner of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primary in Ebonyi State conducted across the 13 local government areas of the state on Tuesday.

Odii emerged unopposed during the exercise monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

 Chairman of the committee that conducted the primary, Dr. Lekon Rotimi declared Odii the winner at the party’s collation center in Abakaliki, the state capital on Tuesday evening.

Lekon said Odii polled a total of 8,281 votes to emerge the consensus candidate of the party during the primary.

“I  am glad to announce that from the 13 local government areas of the state, we have a total vote of 8,281 for the sole and only candidate of the PDP.

“So, after careful and carefully collating all the results and careful verification of all the results that emanated from all the local governments like I stated earlier, a total of 8,281 votes, I the returning officer for this election hereby declare the outcome of this election as such and I congratulate the winner.

“I therefore declare and return Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii as the winner of this governorship primary”, he said.

Chairman of the party in the state, Chukwuma Igwe described the exercise as very peaceful.

“We have carried out all our primaries by consensus because PDP is a very peaceful family in Ebonyi State and everything we do, we do it to show others the way to go.

“We are always leading the way and everybody knows that PDP is where we are and we all know the direction we are going . Very soon, you will see the moving train. The time of locusts is over.

“In today’s election, we have carried out our primary. We have emanated from the ward and that’s why we are coming out late from the ward to the local government areas”, Igwe stated.

Addressing the mammoth crowd at the collation center after the declaration of the result, Odii, who lauded the peaceful and successful conduct of the primary, enjoined the party members and supporters to enthrone what he called governance in the state.

He accused the present administration in the state of running a personal family business government which he described as unacceptable.

Odii, who was also the 2023 governorship candidate of the party, opined that he was in the 2027 race to liberate the state.

Odii said: “Ebonyi can never be consumed, Ebonyi can never be conquered. Ebonyi can never become a personal family business and we are here for the rescue of our own dear state.

“I don’t need anyone to celebrate me. I don’t need anyone to clap hands or sing praises for me. What we are looking for is the task ahead of us and that task is how to recover Ebonyi for a better development.

“It is time for us to bring about good governance, the governance that will benefit born and unborn children, the governance that will bring good governance to the men and women.

“It is about the governance that will bring good welfare citizens, to the civil servants to the teachers. It is about the good governance that will bring about good economy to Ebonyi State and that’s why I have made myself available to it under the platform of PDP.

“Quote me on record, Ebonyi will never go to darkness again. I am always good at challenging the status quo when the time comes. God blesses people because of their people. I am blessed because of the land of Ebonyi.

“Let the God of the land stand and fight for the liberation of Ebonyi State. I am not scared about their gathering.

“I am not scared about what the future brings. What I look forward to, is the happiness of Ebonyi State and I believe that happiness is now, there is no other time.”

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has put on hold result collation of its presidential primary election held across the country on Monday.

Announcing the postponement in the late hours of Tuesday, the Chairman of the Presidential Primary Election Committee, Chief Ikechi Emenike, said the decision was to allow party members who are Muslims to celebrate the Eid-el-Kabir.

Emenike explained that collation for the remaining states would begin on Wednesday by 8pm

According to him, some returning officers had flight challenges.

“We are postponing the collation to allow our brothers and sisters celebrate Sallah participate in the religious activity and to enable returning officers who had flight challenges to arrive Abuja latter today,” Emenike stated.

Emenike further stated that Returning Officers of 24 states including the FCT have announced their results, remaining 12 states before the postponement.

He said that the states are Borno, Kebbi, Anambra, Abia, Ekiti, Ondo, Gombe, Oyo, Imo, Yobe, Nasarawa, Enugu, Benue, Osun, Adamawa and Kogi states.

Others are Kano, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi , Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba Zamfara and the FCT.