Deputy Senate Leader and senator representing Kwara South senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Lola Ashiru, has said that zoning arrangements will not be considered in the 2027 governorship race in the state.
Speaking with journalists in his Offa country home on Thursday, Senator Ashiru, who is also a stalwart of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara state, said that governorship position would be contested among all the three zones in the state for next election, adding that zoning arrangements had never been a consideration in selection of governorship candidates in the state.
It is recalled that there has been agitation on where the next governorship candidate should come from in the APC as both the Kwara South and Kwara Central had occupied the seat in the last 25 years.
“Governorship is never zoned in Kwara state. Anybody who’ll want to become a governor must be prepared to work hard and campaign hard to convince people for people to vote for him or her.
“While I sympathize with the Kwara North that it’s been long time aside from the time of Governor Shabba Lafiagi who’s from the Kwara North. Lafiagi was not given governorship of Kwara state on zoning. He fought, worked hard and campaigned for it. He bargained for it. You can’t tell me to vote for you if you don’t come to me. And I’ll ask you what is there for my community. Any of the governorship aspirants that comes to me, I’ll ask him what’s on the table for my community. This is about negotiation, bargain, politics.
“Positions are never zoned. There’s no where we’ve zoned position of governorship.
“Even the last election that was won by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, it was not zoned to Ilorin. It was contested by almost all politicians that were ready to contest. All the zones contested. And because the people see Abdulrazaq as person that can deliver dividends of democracy, they all agregated towards him and voted for him. So also was his first term. It was not a zoned ticket. It was contested and he won because he was more prepared than others.
“When you look at the time of Lawal, his governorship was contested too and so on and so forth. So, what I’m saying is that we’re not in a regime of zoning because we want the best in any case. We want people who are well prepared and equipped to serve the people.
“Hopefully, candidates would have to come, convince us, bargain with us, come to table with us and tell us what you want to offer to people of Kwara state and come to Offa and tell us what you have to offer to the people of Kwara South.”
Senator Ashiru, who said that Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq had done well at spreading dividends of democracy to all parts of the state, added that Kwara South district deserves more.
“There are so many things people of Kwara South are not happy about. There are so many positions that should be acceeded to us. Despite the fact that our governor has done very well for people of Kwara South, every zone would always ask for more. After governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, I feel that the next governor must sit with us and tell us what he has to offer us. When we have that, we give him our votes whether he’s from Ilorin, Omu Aran or from Kaiama or Baruten, which ever one or Lafiagi.
“The demand of governorship has increased tremendously in the whole nation. And it’s become more competitive than before. And I have the feeling that good candidate would come up and Kwara state would eventually vote for a very good candidate in our party APC, because it’s still going to be APC government. I wish every candidate well in their strive”, he said.
The deputy Senate Leader said that he saw nothing wrong or bad in any politician campaigning for 2027 now, added that he would however, not involve himself in that.
“Everybody has the right to aspire or pursue their ambition and when you are aspiring, you can perspire. You’re talking about 2027, there’s nothing wrong or bad in aspiring even for 2031. Any politician campaigning for 2027 is not taking anything from you. And he’s not distorting your work. So, if people start planning for 2027, to me it’s all well and good. But for me I’ll not do it. If you decide to do it, it means you have a lot of resources to spend. You can spend it”, he added.
. TheWitness
