2023: Baba Idrisu and his political quest to govern Kwarans

The race for the Kwara State governorship tussle is just a few months away. Gladiators are already  flexing muscles but the stage is not yet ready as such, owing to the fact there are many interests and tendencies to be considered in determining who flies the flag of the various political parties in the general elections.

In the last couple of days, there have been avalanche of resignation of appointments by political office holders (i.e commissioners and special advisers/assistants) from the cabinet of the current ruling government, the All Progressives Congress, (APC) under Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq whose first term tenure is gradually ending. They are all interested in running for one elective position or the other.

At this point, I am more particular about the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), a party that gallantly lost virtually all its elective seats to the ruling APC in the 2019 general elections due to many reasons which cannot be discussed here, thereby, paving ways for the O’toge movement to take full control of the political atmosphere of the state at all levels.

While many gladiators have in the recent time decamped from the PDP to APC as well as other political parties in the state, some actors were also recently seen making a fresh bargain with the PDP in order to pursue their irrational and selfish political ambition.

Alas! One of such characters is Alhaji Shuaibu Yaman Abdullahi, a Kaduna based businessman, a man who claimed to be a Kwaran but vowed never to have a plot of land in Ilorin nor erect any personal structure therein. Hmmmmmmmm, this is a discussion for another time because it is clearly evident that Shuaibu Yaman is not a calculative politician, his personal ambition of occupying the State Government House supersedes the need for him to stay with the people and share their feelings with them.

He has been contesting for the governorship seat since the return to democratic rules in 1999 but no party has ever presented him to fly its flag, therefore, he is an old/weak horse whose ambition may go nowhere due to his inconsistency and betrayal attitudes to his unsuspecting followers.

A chieftain of the APC, Yaman decided to defect to PDP and engaged in a marriage of inconvenience with the Senate President of the 8th National Assembly and leader of the party, Sen. Dr. Bukola Saraki CON because of the PDP zoning arrangements which favors Kwara North Senatorial District where he hails from.

 With the recent development, PDP should be careful and listen to the yearnings of the people, especially youths who constitute the largest percentage of voters in the state.  The body language of the PDP youth wing now is to consider one of them for the party’s guber ticket this time around. On their lips now is “Give Baba Idrisu, an idigene of Patigi in Kwara North,  the ticket to run”.

Baba Idrisu, an alumnus  of the prestigious Kwara State Polytechnics, Ilorin, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and currently running a program at the Al-Hikma UNiversity, ADeta-Ilorin, is a  political loyalist of Dr. Bukola Saraki is someone that I had known for the past 30years at Adewole Housing Estate. He is a committed youth, upright and dedicated to the growth and development of the state in his little ways. No wonder his associates recently canvassed  the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  to consider the youngest governorship aspirant in the party, Mr Baba Idris, as the governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections.

Under the aegis of the Coalition of Kwara Youths and Young Professionals, led by Mallam Abdulrahman Muhammed, the group said that young people are critical stakeholders in Kwara and Nigeria polity, politics and governance of today, “because we are most affected by government’s decisions and actions.”

The group opined that, “Our prevailing national travails; socioeconomic, physical and political in Kwara state and Nigeria require the innovation, curiosity, energy and creativity of young people to be surmounted. That is the reason we are calling on the Kwara state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to consider one of the best among us, Mr Baba Idris, who has summoned the courage by showing interest in the governorship ticket of the party.

“More importantly, the precarious situation our dear state, Kwara and Nigeria find themselves in, is capable of glooming the brightness of the future we seek. Hence, the need for us to take the lead in championing the course to change our narratives for the best. We, as young people, assure the members, leaders and stakeholders of the party that Baba Idris’ candidacy will attract the support of people across socio-political divides for the party, as it will raise our hopes and reassure us that truly, you are sincerely willing to bequeath the paddling of the affairs of the future which belongs to us, on us.

“Going by his personal and political trajectory, Baba Idris is resourceful, energetic, innovative, humble and a bridge-builder, whose calm mind, enterprise and intellectual soundness are admired and accepted across political and social divides of our dear state. As an Electrical Engineering graduate, he is a problem solver and strategist that has recorded remarkable success in his personal and public life.

He is a good communicator, with strong connections among the young and old, men and women and as such, will find it easy to understand and relate with the yearnings and aspirations of all classes of Kwarans, particularly the average Kwarans. This is because Baba Idris is also an average Kwaran himself, who struggled to stardom.”

With these facts and many more, PDP should be careful of some political jobbers who does not have any clear political record nor clean bill from their supporters, rather, their concern is only Power, Power and Power alone not really the interest of the masses.

Yahaya AbdulKadir  writes from Ilorin via yahayatopeabdulkadir@gmail.com