Crisis Rocks Kwara APC As Stakeholders Reject Reps Candidate

Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State have appealed to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to intervene in the party’s selection of its candidate for the Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency ahead of the 2027 general elections.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

The party members alleged that the individual declared as the APC candidate did not emerge victorious in the primary election held on May 16, 2026.

Their appeal was contained in an open letter addressed to the governor and made available to journalists in Ilorin on Thursday.

Titled “A Passionate Appeal to Reconsider the APC Choice of Candidacy for Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency for the 2027 General Elections,” the letter was jointly signed by APC leaders and local government officials from Ekiti and Oke-Ero Local Government Areas.

Among the signatories were APC Chairman in Ekiti LGA, Elder Ajibola Ayoola; APC Chairman in Oke-Ero LGA, James Kayode Bamidele; Chairman of Ekiti Local Government Council, Awelewa Olawale; APC leader in Oke-Ero, Kayode Towoju; and party chieftain O.J. Adeseko.

The stakeholders said they were motivated by a commitment to justice, fairness, and internal democracy within the ruling party.

According to them, the candidate eventually announced by the APC was not the winner of the primary election, despite what they described as the clear outcome of the exercise.

Stakeholders Claim Abolarin Won Primary

Attached to the petition was what the group described as the official result of the primary election.

They claimed the results showed that Abolarin Ganiyu secured 17,128 votes to emerge as the winner, while the incumbent lawmaker representing the constituency, Raheem Tunji Olawuyi (Ajuloopin), polled 2,978 votes.

The stakeholders questioned how a candidate they alleged finished sixth in the contest eventually emerged as the party’s flagbearer.

They also argued that retaining Olawuyi as the candidate would further deepen what they described as a long-standing political imbalance within the constituency.

According to the petition, every member who has represented the Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives since the return to democratic rule in 1999 has come from either Irepodun or Isin Local Government Areas.

The group listed former representatives as Bashir Bola Oni, Peter Gbenga Makanjuola, Akeem Olayinka Hakeem, the late Olufunke Adedoyin, and the incumbent, Raheem Tunji Olawuyi.

They lamented that neither Ekiti nor Oke-Ero Local Government Areas had ever produced a representative for the constituency, despite jointly accounting for 20 of its 42 electoral wards.

The stakeholders further claimed that Irepodun Local Government Area had occupied the House of Representatives seat for about 26 years, while Omu-Aran, with only three of the constituency’s 42 wards, had held the position for nearly 24 years.

They urged Governor AbdulRazaq to engage the national leadership of the APC to review the outcome of the candidate selection and recognise Abolarin Ganiyu as the party’s authentic candidate.

According to the petitioners, such a move would uphold justice, strengthen internal democracy, promote equity across the constituency, and reinforce confidence in the APC’s candidate selection process.