2023: Abdullahi emerges Kwara PDP governorship candidate

By Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

A frontline politician in Kwara state, Alhaji Yahman Shuaib Abdullahi, who recently defected from the All Progressives Party (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP in the state.

His emergence came after he won the primary election conducted by the party for its three governorship aspirants in the state. The two pther contestants are a 3-time member of the House of Representatives representing Pategi/Lafiagi/Moro federal constituency of the state, Ahman Pategi, and immediate past Nigerian Ambassador to Japan who had also served as a Deputy Speaker and Commissioner in the state, Prof. Yisa Gana.

Abdullahi, according to the result announced by the Chairman of the electoral committee and the Returning Officer, Niyi Owolade, polled 518 of the total 574 votes cast at the election.

Owolade, who declared Abdullahi returned, said Ahman Pategi recorded 31 votes while Gana polled 14, adding that 574 of the total number of 591 delegates were accredited, while 11 votes were voided

The PDP had zoned the governorship ticket to the North Senatorial District of the state from where all the contestants hail.

Abdullahi, who lost the governorship ticket of the APC to AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in 2019, left the APC about six weeks ago to contest in the governorship primaries of the PDP.

The politician was the Kwara North Senatorial candidate of the Alllied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) in 2011 when the incumbent Minister of State for Transport, Senator Gbemisola Saraki was the party’s governorship candidate.

The PDP governorship primary election which was conducted at the Arca Santa arena along Ajasa-Ipo road in Ilorin went without rancour as delegates conducted themselves peacefully and on orderly manner.

Abdullahi, in his acceptance speech, thanked his co-contestants for accepting the outcome of the election and called for cooperation of all members of the party ahead the 2023 elections.

He said Kwara state under the present administration of the APC has derailed from the track of progress and development and urged that PDP should be voted for to put the state back on track.

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