The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has formally received Senator Saliu Mustapha into its fold and presented him as its candidate for Kwara Central in the 2027 senatorial election. The development came amid a renewed political confrontation between Mustapha and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, with the former ruling party lawmaker challenging the governor to […]
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State has formally received Senator Saliu Mustapha into its fold and presented him as its candidate for Kwara Central in the 2027 senatorial election.
The development came amid a renewed political confrontation between Mustapha and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, with the former ruling party lawmaker challenging the governor to a public debate over their records and plans for the senatorial district.
Mustapha, who recently resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC), made the challenge at a political gathering organised by The Otoge Progressives (TOP).
The group is an expanded political movement that emerged from the aggrieved APC bloc formerly known as G15.
He accused the governor of frustrating some of his constituency projects, alleging that the move was aimed at weakening his record before the electorate.
“I have been doing works, that is why I was given Turaki of Ilorin because of my development to the emirate,” Mustapha said.
“He is refusing my projects because he wants to bring me down and come back to say I didn’t work. He is stopping all my projects.”
The senator also took exception to responses to his criticisms which he attributed to aides and political associates of the governor, saying AbdulRazaq should engage him directly.
“I won’t respond to all his errand boys. When he sends his errand boys, we will send our aide to reply them. But I challenge Governor AbdulRazaq to a public debate,” he said.
According to Mustapha, the proposed encounter should allow both politicians to explain their achievements and plans for Kwara Central before the people.
“Let him come out and tell what he has done before becoming the governor of this state and I will come back and tell what I have done. Let him come out with his plan for Kwara Central and I will do that too,” he said.
His comments came as the political opposition in the state seeks to consolidate the realignment triggered by his defection from the APC.
Mustapha insisted that the emerging alliance was bigger than the ambitions of individual politicians.
“We will reset the equation in 2027. It is not about me or about Saraki or Kawu, it is about the collective interest of my people,” he said.
Mustapha also shifted attention to the election itself, calling on supporters to begin grassroots mobilisation and promising that the opposition would deploy agents to monitor voting and collation across the state.
“There will be no rigging. We will sit with our votes and monitor it from the polling unit, to the ward, to the LG and to the state where the final announcement will be made,” he said.
The senator expressed confidence and reiterated that the opposition would unseat AbdulRazaq at the election before 12pm on election day.”
The TOP gathering also featured former Kwara Central Senator Yahaya Oloriegbe, who used the occasion to reject claims that the political bloc had fractured.
Oloriegbe said the group remained united under TOP and would pursue a “rainbow” strategy in 2027, supporting candidates across political parties while backing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for another term.
He specifically dismissed suggestions that the group had lost members.
At the subsequent PDP gathering, the party moved to formalise Mustapha’s new political home, presenting him with its flag before party members and supporters in Ilorin.
State PDP chairman, Isa Bawa Adamu, said the party had granted the serving senator a waiver to contest the 2027 National Assembly election on its platform, formally confirming his candidacy for Kwara Central.
“By the grace of God, you have been granted a waiver to contest the 2027 National Assembly election under the banner of PDP,” Adamu said.
Mustapha, while accepting the PDP flag, pledged to work with the party to secure victory and described the realignment as an effort to reposition the state politically.
“I want to use this opportunity to assure and guarantee you that we shall work tirelessly together to make sure we deliver victory for the party,” he said.
He said his emergence was significant because the PDP was not merely receiving an aspirant, but a serving senator who would now contest the next election on its platform.
“We are celebrating with PDP today that in me as a serving senator, you have an elected Senator in PDP, not just as a candidate, but as a serving senator,” Mustapha said.
He said the alliance was ultimately designed to protect the wider interests of Kwara, adding that the objective was to ensure that “in future nobody will take the state for granted”.
