2027: Fresh political alignment looms in Kwara as ‘O’toge’ chieftain floats new movement

The recent launch of the Kwara Redemption Movement (KRM) by one of the pillars of the ‘O’toge’ movement that paved way for the victory of the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq in the 2019 general election may result in fresh re-alignment of forces that will ultimately determine if the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State will continue to govern the State of Harmony or vacate the seat for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), ABIODUN FAGBEMI writes.

Kwara State political landscape may have begun another preparation that may make or mar the existing hegemony in the much envisaged 2027 elections with the emergence of a new political movement in Ilorin, the state capital, christened Kwara Redemption Movement (KRM) on Saturday, October 26, 2024.
The venue of the launch was filled to capacity. The magnitude of the participants at the event could either be a sign of being bored of the existing politicking in the state or they are carrying out espionage to gauge the current political pulse in the state.

The launch of the KRM was not in any way a child’s play to the emergence, about six years ago, of the ‘O’toge’ political tsunami that swept off the then political powerhouse built some three and a half decades ago by the late doyen of Kwara politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, the Agoro Bogun Bolu.

But out of the four voices of the ‘O’toge’, only the leading voice, Chief Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, now 70 years old, belongs to the new movement. In actual fact, Oyedepo, a native of Isin Local Council of the state, is the leader of the group. Two out of the gladiators – Alhaji AbdulYekeen Alajagbusi and Dr. Rex Kokawole Olawuyi – had gone to the grave beyond. The fourth person, the youngest of them, Alhaji Femi Yusuf aka ‘Koto-Koto-Koto,’ now the Chairman of Ifelodun Local Council of the state, is actively involved in the current administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. The governor is today being touted as the greatest beneficiary of the 2018 political movement.

The apparent interpretation of the development, at the moment, is that the protagonists of the ‘O’toge’ movement have been fragmented along three major political groups. These are those in the camp of the governor, those behind the formation of the KRM and the neutral group who are awaiting the direction to which the pendulum will swing before deciding on their next political step.
But aside from those currently with the governor, operating under the banner of the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), none has the structure that can match what former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has on ground. Saraki, a political gadfly, has a structure that has opened its door to politicians who are either in a disagreement with AbdulRazaq’s style of leadership or are covertly seeking for a fresh wine inside an old wineskin.

Saraki, according to the state Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Tunde Mohammed, “is a God sent leader to us not just in Kwara State but the entire nation.”
He added: “Kindly check his political antecedents. He is peace loving and believes in the growth of the entire Kwara and beyond. He is a leading voice in the nation’s polity and therefore, the type of leader that can lead us to our political eldorado. We are expecting more members into our party, the PDP. Our leader is urging us all to work harder and bring back the much needed succour to our people. We welcome any group of persons into our fold. But no movement can serve as a threat to us.”

In his own views, the state Chairman of the APC, Sunday Fagbemi, who like Oyedepo recently marked his 70th birthday, described AbdulRazaq’s tenure as an excellent one.
He believes that any political permutation at the moment would cause a distraction to the ongoing socio-economic reforms of the government of the APC in the state.

“We are not moved by the roaring of the paper lions. We are focused and we shall continue to churn out the dividends of democracy to our people. We shall not deviate from the promises we made while campaigning to them. Our people in Kwara will continue to accommodate our party because the difference is clear like a crystal lake,” he said.

Speaking on the emergence of the KRM, Fagbemi said: “Everybody has a right to belong to any lawful association. It is the beauty of democracy. Nobody can stop them so long they are law abiding people. That is my brief reaction to the movement you said was launched. I didn’t know anything about it. I am just hearing it for the first time.”
At the takeoff of the movement, the convener said that a new dawn was being created by the group, adding that with the emerging trends in the socio-economic and political landscape of the state, it would be difficult for the ruling party to repeat the feat it achieved during the last governorship poll in the 2027 elections .

Recall that in the 2023 governorship election, APC won the election with 273,424 votes while the PDP candidate, Abdullahi Shuaibu Yaman, who came second, got 155,490 votes.
Oyedepo, ably supported by representatives from the 16 local councils of the state, said: “Today is a unique day in the history of Kwara State. We shall want this day to be registered as that day that some strong willed Kwarans formally came together to chart a new political course for the people of this state. We have at the core of this movement academicians, politicians, members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), professionals, etc, whose desire is to provide a difference in the governance of this state.

“Having studied Kwara State from creation in 1967, particularly the current ignoble state of affairs in the state, there developed in the members of this group the patriotic zeal and desire for a new beginning for the people of Kwara State. You may be surprised to see some of the faces known to you here. The people you see here today may be politicians of different political affiliations and parties who have resolved to be part of this new era.

“Kwara State was created in 1967 with a lot of promise. It was a young state with a very young and dynamic military governor. Those were days when the young listened to the old and the wisdom of the old mixed with the energy of the youth produced the then state of purpose. Those that were old enough and those not born then should know that within 12 years of the state’s creation were the following: Government House, State Secretariat, several secondary and primary schools, Gateway Insurance, Kwara Hotel, Midland Stores, Kwara College of Technology (now Kwara Polytechnic), School of Nursing, Ilorin, two colleges of education, among several others. There were thriving economic outfits in Kwara State, owned by the state or individuals and were encouraged to thrive as a result of the favourable policies of government.

“We should also remember with nostalgia Kwara Brewery, paper converter at Erin-Ile, Kwara Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), the producer of stone free rice called K. Food, Kwara Textile Industry, Kwara Property Development Corporation, Nigeria Sugar Company, Bacita, NYAMCO Bacita, Kwara Furniture, Tate & Lyle, United Match Company, Jebba Paper Mill, The Herald, etc.

“Regrettably, a cursory glance across the state today will show that all these legacy achievements have become history. The state at creation was a parade of excellence in every department of human endeavour like medicine, architecture, engineering, law, commerce, clergy, sports, entertainment, etc. The decline of excellence and values is now the hallmark of the present.

“There was a time in this state when our service was our pride. Kwara State used to pride itself of having the best civil service in the whole of Northern Nigeria. That was an era when civil servants strictly took to their calling as the true servants of the people, providing sound advice to political leaders in government. Where are the likes of the Aderibigbes, Ogunlowos, Saidu Issa, Gobir, Salman Alada, and their successors like Shehu Gafar, Oyawoye, Sha’aba Koro and many others? The service of today is that of consultants, where career civil servants are reduced to on-lookers in their chosen career .

“Unfortunately, today the low pay system skewed reward and punishment mechanisms over the years have left the civil service in bad shape with pension funds often mismanaged or pilfered, turning state retirees into beggars.”
Speaking on the political situation in Kwara, he added: “We have noted with great concern that our politics have grown increasingly distrustful and the people disillusioned with our democratic process. There is an obvious decline of ethos and virtues in our politics. The politics of the First Republic was dominated by the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and Action Group (AG) in the then Ilorin province now known as Kwara State. The then politics was not without some negative issues, but it was not money and godfather dominated as we have it today. Politics by then, within the available resources, was an instrument of development.

“That of the Second Republic was a continuation of the First Republic with some remarkable improvements. But from the Third Republic till now, politics in Kwara State have faced some spiral slide into absurdity of incompetence, inexperience, lack of proper engagement with the people, poor leadership recruitment, godfatherism, inappropriate use of money in politics, religious bigotry, deceptions, ethnic and sub-ethnic considerations, etc. All these have led to continued loss of trust in politics and politicians by the people. If these should continue, it may erode civic engagement and further discourage any conventional form of political participation by the people of this state.

“If this trend is not arrested, it may lead to the entrenchment of dictatorship in the life of the state. Those of us who have lived our lives in Kwara will agree that this state was once a state with excellent potential whose cultural, religious and ethnic mix was reflective of its uniqueness of location. Today, it is a crawling toddler.”
On the nexus ‘O’toge’ has with the new movement, Oyedepo said: “The truth is that we erected the pillars of ‘O’toge’ that metamorphosed to the present administration. The inheritor of the gains of the revolution may not have shared our vision of quality departure from the past.

With the unintended outcome of the product of that struggle; we can say that ‘O’toge’ can be said to be a revolution aborted and the dream bastardised.

“However, events leading to the 2019 general election, which appeared as an intervention of Almighty God to save the state from imminent collapse, had remained a recurring decimal. While the covenant we had with the people of the state in 2019 were badly eroded and carelessly mismanaged by another failure of leadership, the principle and philosophy upon which the ‘O’toge’ revolution, which ensured the peoples’ victory over oppression and bad governance, was squandered with reckless abandon.

“The situation as it is presently is even worse. While transparency and due process, which are critical to maintain public confidence in any democratic system are missing, serious issues affecting the people have continued to remain unattended to, with no one to speak truth to power. This disconnect has not only widened the gap between the government and the people, leading to more frustration and disillusionment; white elephant projects that have no direct bearing with the people dot the state capital.

“But embarrassingly, both our elite and the so called politically enlightened appeared resolved to keep quiet in the face of the continuing rape, brazen political and administrative incompetence that is now passed for leadership in the state. But we believe that the failure to act now by those of us privileged to be educated and politically conscious will amount to an encouragement of the underdevelopment that has remained the identity of our state.”

He continued: “With these inadequacies hindering our growth as a state, you will agree that the time is ripe for the emergence of a new generation of political helmsmen that must lead this state to an era where people will be encouraged to contribute to the common pot of soup that will be fairly served. It is at this point that patriotic, committed and selfless men, women and youths across the state who have continuously demonstrated and dedicated themselves to the progress and the enthronement of good governance in the state have deemed it fit as a child of necessity to establish for the state a new association that will conscientiously refocus the people of Kwara State to a more beneficial approach to politics.

“The established association is named and called KRM. It is a new vehicle that will turn the state on the path of purposeful leadership, progress and meaningful development. We, therefore, believe that the envisaged right political decision of today will include genuine integration of the political class to effect the desired change. This is the time to reflect and come to terms with this reality in the life of our dear state.

“Indeed, contemporary questions may arise as to the sincerity or otherwise of this new movement in view of similar efforts in the past when associations like Kwara Patriots, Kwara Liberation Front, Movement for Genuine Change, Kwara Solidarity Movement, Kwara Progressive Movement (KPM), etc were formed and later became defunct.

“The temptation to compare this with the defunct ones may be there, but we need to assure all that KRM is a child of destiny to change the course of history. Subsequent programmes and activities of KRM will convince all. The fact here remains that this association desires more to reinvigorate not only the imperative of justice but also of better democratisation of our polity. The notion that there is an abundance of time to rectify human errors has been an illusion to our struggles in Kwara. We feel time is now to begin to assess and evaluate the roads not taken.”

A major member of the movement, Alhaji Tunde Mohammed (not the PDP chairman), said the movement was floated to sensitise the voters and the people of the state to the need for them to prepare for the 2027 polls and vote wisely for only the best candidates that can give them true benefits of democracy.

Unconfirmed reports claimed that members of the movement, who are majorly from the APC according to Mohammed, may in the 2027 polls stay within the party or merge with any party of their choice which shares the same ideologies as theirs.

The Guardian checks revealed that the party may be the PDP, as a source within the KRM, disclosed that “we have two outstanding parties on ground in the state. These are the APC and the PDP. So, if we don’t get what we want in the APC, we may join the PDP. Forming a new party for now will be difficult. What we want is to give Kwarans the true benefits of democracy.”

Could this be the game plan that will return PDP to power in Kwara State? Only time will tell.