Former Kwara Central Senator and APC Governorship Aspirant, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe has said Kwara State has no formal zoning arrangement, insisting that aspirants across the three senatorial districts should be allowed to contest freely and let the people decide.
“One of the things that was fought for was to enable political office holders or political office aspirants to be given the opportunity to contest and let the people decide. When there’s a transition from one governor to the other, you have aspirants coming from all the three senatorial districts. Let me put it this way: we don’t have a principle of zoning in Kwara. That’s what I’ve just alluded to. I think at the end of the day, the party should be able to bring peace and be able to, through a seamless process, have a candidate,” he said.
Oloriegbe said reports suggesting Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq prefers a Kwara North candidate remain “insinuation and rumor,” noting the governor has not publicly endorsed any district or aspirant.
“The governor has not come out openly anywhere to say ‘I prefer this place.’ It’s still all insinuation and rumor, so I don’t need to address what rumor is all about,” he noted.
According to him, electoral victory is often determined by voting strength, population and political strategy, with parties expected to field candidates capable of winning elections.
“I think essentially what determines that is the voting strength or the voting block, and every party wants to win an election. It’s about winning an election. So as a strategy, if you want to win an election, you present somebody that will be able to compete with other candidates to be able to come up,” he stated.
He added that other regions still benefit from power sharing through offices such as deputy governor, speaker and secretary to the state government.
“The last point I want to make about that is that it doesn’t mean that other parts do not have other positions. Governor is just one of the positions in terms of governance. You have the Deputy Governor, you have the Speaker, you have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation/State—at all times, those positions are shared and spread across for people to have,” he outlined.
The APC Kwara governorship aspirant said his comments should not be interpreted to mean Kwara North lacks capable governorship candidates, stressing that every part of the state has competent leaders, and clarifying his earlier statement, he said in Kwara State that political decisions are often driven by strategy, voting strength, and electoral competitiveness rather than regional sentiment alone.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s not about being able; it’s about the strategy of how you attract votes. So what I’m trying to say is this: every part of the state has very capable and able persons to lead the state. But a party will look at what gives me a competitive edge above my competitor to be able to present, and at all times, this is what has happened. So it doesn’t mean that any part of the state does not have capable people; they do have,” he clarified.
Speaking on why Kwara has many aspirants, Ibrahim Oloriegbe said it reflects the post–O-to-ge openness in Kwara State and limited stakeholder consultation, adding that the party is expected to negotiate and streamline the process soon.
“I think it’s because we are in transition from O-to-ge, as I said. I look at it because the field is open, and we said O-to-ge means that people have to—there must be discussion. But partially also because there’s not been stakeholder consultation meetings to be able to reduce it. But more importantly, it’s not a lack of leadership. I think it’s about leaving the field to say let’s leave a playing ground for people to come around. But I am sure that in the next few days, there will be a discussion and you’ll be able to see that there will be negotiation and so on for us to be able to arrive at what will be better for the party, for the party to win the election,” he assured.
Addressing Kwara State’s security challenges, Oloriegbe said banditry, kidnapping, and illegal mining are driven by both internal factors and external pressures from neighbouring regions.
“Kwara has been known to be a “State of Harmony,” but the harmonious state of affairs is being threatened of recent with banditry happening in the North and a certain part of the state, and with kidnapping and other criminalities. But I want to say that we need to look at the causes of this. The causes are not mainly from Kwara; there are issues that are external to Kwara. Because of what is happening in the Northwest part of the country, Kwara is bonded to that. Kwara also has an international boundary. And because of what is even happening in our neighborhood in Kogi and so on, on this, and the part of what is happening in Niger, which is in the North Central, this is coming into the state.
“The second thing is that, of course, there are issues peculiar to the state, which you talk about, which is mining,” he highlighted.
Adding, he said that tackling insecurity requires combining kinetic support with stronger non-
kinetic measures such as economic empowerment.
“The security component I have for this one is about, one: you look at both the non-kinetic and kinetic aspects. The kinetic aspect, I must say most of it will be done by the Federal Government; a state would just have to support it.”
Stressing the need to expand agriculture and regulate mining activities, particularly illegal artisanal operations, to reduce crime incentives, the former senator highlighted the importance of technology and community intelligence in detecting and preventing security threats early.
“To be able to address the security issues, I think we have to expand economic opportunities for people. The security issues will be linked to what I call the ‘Prosperity Program,’ which is agric-based, which include issues of use of water, the issue of mining that you mentioned about. Because how mining is driving it is that we have a lot of artisanal mining which are illegal. The other thing is use of technology and intelligence. Technology is vast these days, and you can be able to deploy technology appropriately to detect and immediately curtail things that will happen. You need to be able to deploy resources to expand how intelligence is gathered to be able to nip things before they proceed,” he explained.
On the issue of state policing, Oloriegbe said he supports the idea, noting that he backed it during his time in the Senate when it was debated and voted on.
“Even when I was in the Senate, the discussion came up and we voted on that. I’m in support of state police,” he underscored.
He stressed, however, that it must be properly funded and backed by strong legal safeguards to prevent abuse by those in authority.
“I support it with a proviso about: one, getting them appropriately funded; two, making rules that will prevent abuse by whoever is in power. So once those two provisos are adequately taken care of by the law, I’m in support of state police,” he stated.
In his assessment of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s administration, Oloriegbe said Kwara State has made progress in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and workers’ welfare since 2019, describing the 2023 election as a reflection of public support for the government’s performance.
“I think the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration—I could say maybe probably because of lack of enough communication out there as to what has been done. Why do I say this? We need to look at where was the state in 2019 when he took over, and where are we now?
“One: look at education. As at 2019, Kwara was blacklisted by UBEC. This administration not only paid the debt that the previous administration held, but has continuously now put Kwara back on track with UBEC. And we have the result of that in terms of the vast reconstruction, rehabilitation, and the improvement we have in the primary education. And this is reflected in what Kwara has won over the time.
“I’ll go quickly to health also. In the health sector, in the last three years consecutively, Kwara has emerged the best and gotten the award in the North Central for the best in primary healthcare. Then you look at urban development and so on. If anybody has been to Ilorin in 2018 and you are now there now, you see the difference. There are several other areas in which the Governor has performed well, but as I said, probably lack of communication,” he stressed.
Adding, he said: “If between 2019 and 2023 the Governor had not performed, look at the result of the 2023 election. What happened in 2019 was repeated fully in 2023. This was a confirmation of the performance of the Governor—that was what I will call a referendum on his performance.”
He also acknowledged the continued relevance of the Saraki factor in Kwara politics, noting that it remains a key consideration for all political actors ahead of future elections.
“The Saraki factor, I won’t deny it is a very important factor. As I said, we are transitioning now because after eight years, the Governor is going. So in which case, two things are going to be happening: people will be voting not only on what the outgoing Governor has done or has not done alone, but they will also look at what’s the potential candidate, what will that person deliver? And that’s where the Saraki factor comes in. And I’m sure Saraki is also strategizing. Based on what I’ve said, what we know is that Saraki is likely to go to Kwara Central and is looking at people that have credibility from their side. So our own party also will have to look at who will match that. So it’s not a fluke to say that… of course, when you defeat somebody, after four years you see the person, the person must re-strategize and must be able to come with a strategy. But for you to win, you have to also strategize to counter that strategy,” Oloriegbe said.
Favour Odima
