Ten Kwara APC Governorship Aspirants Make Demand From Tinubu, Warn Gov AbdulRazaq

Ten governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State have urged President Bola Tinubu to resist alleged attempts to use traditional rulers to endorse the party’s governorship candidate, Speaker Salihu Danladi.

NEWSNGR reports that the aspirants made the appeal in an open letter dated Monday, following reports that some first-class traditional rulers from the state were being mobilised to visit the Presidential Villa over the 2027 governorship race.

Danladi, Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, had emerged the winner of the APC governorship primary held on May 22, 2026, after polling 94,990 votes to defeat 14 other aspirants.

However, the aggrieved aspirants said the outcome remained controversial.

They said, “We have received credible information that some traditional rulers from Kwara State are being mobilised to visit the Presidential Villa in what appears to be an effort to legitimise and secure endorsement for a governorship candidate whose emergence remains controversial within our party.”

The letter was signed by Dele Belgore (SAN), Yahaya Gambari, Saliu Mustapha, Yahaya Oloriegbe, Oluwatoyin Alabi, Tajudeen Audu, Omar Bio, Bashir Bolarinwa, Ahmad Mahmud and Azeez Olaniyi.

They said, “While we hold our revered royal fathers in the highest esteem and recognise their invaluable roles as custodians of our culture and tradition, we respectfully submit that traditional institutions should not be drawn into partisan political contests.”

The aspirants warned that involving monarchs in the dispute could erode the neutrality of the traditional institution.

They also questioned why similar efforts had not been made to seek urgent federal intervention over insecurity in parts of Kwara State.

“If royal fathers can be mobilised to Abuja in support of a governorship candidate, many citizens will naturally wonder why similar efforts have not been made to seek urgent federal intervention on the security challenges confronting communities in parts of Kwara State,” they said.

APC Chieftain Urges AbdulRazaq To Step Back

Meanwhile, an APC chieftain in the state, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, urged traditional rulers to advise Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to withdraw from the succession dispute.

“Tell Gov AbdulRazaq to concede, tell him to back down. That alone can solve the current crisis in Kwara APC,” Sulaiman said.