Atunwa emerges Kwara PDP governorship candidate with 1,555 votes

Razak Atunwa, a member of the Federal House of Representatives and former Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, has emerged the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State.

Atunwa, a former Commissioner for Information and Works in the state, polled 1,555 votes to beat his rival, a former governor of the state and serving senator, Mohammed Sha’aba Lafiagi who scored 578 votes.

Atunwa is from Asa local government area in Kwara central, while Lafiagi is from Edu local government in Kwara north.

The conduct of the PDP governorship primaries, which started on Sunday, was declared inconclusive when the peaceful process was disrupted abruptly by some hoodlums suspected to be hired political thugs.

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Before the commencement of voting by accredited 2,227  delegates from the 193 wards in the state, five out of the ten  aspirants that signified interest in the contest announced their withdrawal from the race.

Those that withdrew from the contest are Speaker, Kwara state House of Assembly, Ali Ahmad, Saka Isau, SAN, Ladi Hassan, Zakari Mohammed and Ahman Pategi.

While Mohammed Ajia Ibrahim, Sulaiman Abubakar and Bolaji Abdullahi boycotted the exercise.

In his acceptance speech, Razaq Atunwa promised to take kwara to the better height as he assured commitment to deliver his campaign promises.

Atunwa, who thanked the PDP family and kwarans  generally for their act of magnanimity, also expressed gratitude to the state’s political leader, Bukola Saraki, for his wise counseling and purposeful leadership which, he said, had kept members of the PDP united in the state. Just as he commended Shaba Lafiagi for his courage and boldness to compete with him.

SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin