Ahead of the next Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly Elections in Kwara state, the Labour Party (LP) has adopted the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, as consensus candidate.
The Labour Party governorship candidate in the state, Comrade Issa Aremu mni announced his party’s decision to form alliance with the APC on Thursday during the International Women’s Day, organised by the LP held at Mustapha Akanbi Foundation Hall, G.R.A Ilorin.
Aremu, who also hosted the APC gubernatorial Candidate, Alhaji Abdulrahaman Abdulrasaq and some leadership of the APC at the Women’s Day programme, said he made the decision in the interest of the liberation of Kwara state.
He said he dedicated the adoption of APC candidate to his leader and mentor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who is the National Chairman of APC and to late Dr Rauf Mustapha, a lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Oxford University, a native of Ilorin, who died in UK in 2017.
He added that his party endorsed the APC in the gubernatorial poll to rescue the state from the shackles of inequality, poverty, of one party that ruled for nearly two decades.
Aremu, however, clarified that the decision of Labour Party to adopt APC candidate should not be interpreted as if he had defected to the APC, saying his party would maintain its identity.
The LP governorship candidate informed that the adoption of his APC counterpart was premised on same ideology both parties stand for.
He urged the voting populace in the state to cast their ballots for the APC and ensure that PDP doesn’t win any election in the Saturday’s polls.
He said “Today marked the liberation of Kwara State from the 16 years of bad governance of PDP, because the two progressive parties have come together to make sure that we support one candidate and his name is Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of APC.
“We have taken this decision looking at the bigger picture. We agreed that it is better that we win collectively than to lose separately, and we have done it before, during the presidential election. Through the joint effort of Labour Party and APC, we made sure that President Muhammadu Buhari won that election, which he did credibly.
“Our position today is to make sure that we rescue Kwara State from the dictatorship of one party for the past two decades. We are going to ensure we get our members in Labour Party to make sure that we vote for Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for governorship.
“That doesn’t mean we are in APC. We retain our identity. We are doing this as partner. We have a written agreement, which is to back this up that this partnership is for a greater Kwara”.
Also speaking, the state APC governorship candidate who also attended the event, described his adoption as a collective efforts to take Kwara to a greater height.
He expressed confidence that the APC would secure victory with the array of endorsement of his candidature and defection into his party.
“It is exciting. It just means that it is the end of PDP government. It is a total funeral of the PDP government. It is a good day. On the eve of election, we are good to go.
“We feel great. We are confident. The important thing is that even the PDP have stopped campaigning. Not just adoption by parties, they have been decamping en mass. The numbers are going to be great. The only threat they have is to try and disrupt election because they can’t win and they can’t recover from the last election.
“It was 70 percent during the last election. With the other parties coming together and people decamping, we expect bigger number this time around”, Abdulrazaq said.
Earlier in his address, the National President of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade John Adaji said the National body of labour party was in support of the adoption.
Also speaking, the LP Chairman in the state, Comrade Abdulmumeen Onagun
said the allighnment of the two parties was a marriage of convenience and urged all supporters of LP party to mobilise support for Abdulrahaman Abdulrasaq come Saturday governorship election in the state
Comrademe Aremu had earlier commissioned a block of toilet he built at Junior Secondary School Ayegun, Eyenkorin area Ilorin.
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