Kwara 2027: APC Stakeholders Insist On Rep Slot For Moro LGA
” Affirm Party Primary Was Won Landslide By Moro Indigene
Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
The people of Moro local government area of Kwara State, under the auspices of the All Progressive Congress (APC), have called for an urgent review of the results of the party’s primary election for the House of Representatives which, according to them, was won by an indigene of Moro with over 20,400 votes.
They alleged that the name of the person announced as the winner of the primary election by the leadership of the party came a distant eight position.
They further alleged that the people of the Moro local government had for long suffered marginalization in zoning arrangement of elective offices and political appointments, cautioning that the recent House of Representatives’ primary election of the party should not add to the plights of the people of the local government.
Addressing a world press conference on Wednesday at the APC Kwara North Senatorial Office in Oyun, Moro local government area, the spokesman of the group, Alhaji Mustapha Kabir (Waziri Malete), urged the party’s leadership to reverse what he described as an injustice by restoring the House of Representatives mandate won by a Moro aspirant during the party’s primary election.
The text of the press conference was jointly signed by Mustapha Kabir, (Omo Nma), former chairman of Moro local government, Alhaji Tunde Yusuf, former Special Adviser to the governor, Hajia Aisat Issa, former Supervisor, Elder James Ajao; and former member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon. Emmanuel Bello.
Kabor lamented that within the Edu/Moro/Patigi Federal Constituency, Edu and Patigi had produced members of the House of Representatives for 16 and 12 years respectively since 1999, while Moro had been excluded throughout the period.
He added that Moro remained the only local government in Kwara North Senatorial District that had never produced a senator since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, despite its contributions to the political development of the district.
He ccontended that by 2027, Kaiama, Baruten and Edu local governments would each have produced senators for eight years, while Patigi would have occupied the seat for four years.
According to him, Moro has also not produced the Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, a minister or a federal board chairman whenever such positions were allocated to their senatorial district.
He expressed disappointment over the outcome of the APC House of Representatives primary election, claiming that a Moro aspirant who secured over 20,400 votes emerged victorious in the exercise monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but was allegedly replaced with another aspirant from Edu local government who scored 157 votes and was eventually declared the party’s candidate for the 2027 general election.
He argued that the emergence of the APC senatorial candidate from Patigi local government, alongside the House of Representatives candidate from Edu, had effectively extinguished Moro’s chances of producing either a senator or a member of the House of Representatives in the next electoral cycle.
Kabir said the development had left the people of Moro feeling betrayed, despite what it described as their unwavering loyalty to the APC and support for the Kwara North political agenda.
“We are not asking for charity. We are demanding fairness, equity, justice and recognition. Moro should no longer be treated as a second-class participant in the political affairs of Kwara north,” he said.
He lamented that some aspirants from Moro resigned from the civil service in compliance with electoral regulations and contested the primary election in good faith, only to lose what they described as a mandate they had legitimately earned.
Warning that the continued exclusion of Moro could deepen political alienation and underdevelopment in the local government, he appealed to the APC leadership at both the state and national levels to address what it called an anomaly by recognising Moro’s electoral victory in the House of Representatives primary.
Kabir also urged the sons and daughters of Moro to remain peaceful while collectively demanding equitable representation, insisting that justice should not be sacrificed for political expediency.
