Kwara PDP Guber Aspirants To Rally Behind Party Candidate

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 06, (THEWILL) - Gubernatorial aspirants under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State have all agreed to work together and respect the rules of the game in their bid to clinch the party’s ticket at its primaries on Sunday. The PDP aspirants also assured that they would team up with whoever emerged as the flag bearer to work for the overall success of the party and ensure that PDP caries the day at the gubernatorial election in the State. A cross-section of the aspirants, who spoke with newsmen on Wednesday night made the assurance shortly after a private dinner and closed door meeting with the State Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki CON, at the Governor’s lodge. Among the aspirants present at the meeting included the immediate past Minister of Sports, Alhaji Issa Bio Ibrahim, Senator Ahmed Mohammed of the National Assembly, Chief Theophilus Bamigboye, Senator Makanjuola Ajadi and Alhaji Yekinni Alabi. Others were the immediate past Commissioners for Finance and that of Planning and Economic Development in the State, Alhaji Rasaq Atunwa and Abdulfatah Ahmed, a Lagos based Petroleum Engineer, Sunday Babalola and Alhaji Folorunsho Ayinla. Speaking on their aspirations and the party’s primaries, Alhaji Bio Ibrahim, Chief Theophilus Bamigboye, Senators Ahmed Mohammed and Makanjuola Ajadi urged the party leadership to be fair to all the aspirants, having all agreed to work for the success of the party. According to them, the parley with the Governor would further enhance unity among the aspirants and consolidate on his modest achievements. Senator Ajadi, who specifically described himself as tested and trusted, said if given the mandate to become the Governor, he would build on Saraki’s monumental achievements and legacies to further take the State to greater heights. Alhaji Yekinni Alabi in his own comment called on the party to be transparent in the conduct of the primaries, noting that the Governor had no anointed candidate. He also enjoined him to create a level playing ground for all the aspirants. In their separate views, Engineer Sunday Babalola, Alhaji Rasaq Atunwa and Abdulfatah Ahmed observed that the increasing number of aspirants jostling for the governorship seat is a good omen for the nation’s democracy as Kwarans now have varieties to choose from. They commended the governor for restoring peace in the State which they all promised to sustain and agreed to shun violence during and after the party’s primaries. All the aspirants appreciated one thing on the part of Governor Saraki contrary to wide spread rumour that he had anointed a particular aspirant among them for the coveted position. Dr. Saraki used the opportunity of the parley to re-affirm his earlier stand that he had no anointed candidate, while the aspirants in turn assured him of their resolve to work in unison to rally support for whoever among them emerged as the party’s standard bearer for the gubernatorial election in the State.