Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
A member of the House of Representatives and a former Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Barr. Razak Atunwa, has emerged the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the state.
Atunwa, a former Commissioner for Information and Works in the state, polled 1,555 votes to beat his rival, who is a former governor of the state and serving senator, Alh. Mohammed Sha’aba Lafiagi, who scored 578 votes. Thirty-eight of the votes were invalid.
Atunwa is from Asa Local Government Area in Kwara Central while Lafiagi is from Edu Local Government Area in Kwara North.
The conduct of the PDP governorship primary, which started on Sunday, was declared inconclusive when the process was disrupted abruptly by some hoodlums suspected to be hired political thugs.
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Before the commencement of voting by the accredited 2,227 delegates from the 193 wards in the state, nine of the 11 aspirants that signified interest in the contest announced their withdrawal from the race.
Those that withdrew from the contest were Speaker, Kwara state House of Assembly, Dr. Ali Ahmad, Alhaji Saka Isau SAN, Alhaji Ladi Hassan, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, Hon. Ahman Pategi, Alhaji Mohammed Ajia Ibrahim, Prof. Sulaiman Abubakar and Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.
Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, who explained that the nine aspirants withdrew from the race in the party’s interest, thanked them for their act of magnanimity.
The governor also thanked the state’s political leader, Dr. Bukola Saraki, for his wise counseling and purposeful leadership which, he said, had kept members of the PDP united in the state.