Another Look At The Kwara Governor And His Politics By Taiwo Adisa, PhD

In the 3 May 2026 edition, this column brought a post entitled “Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq: A 2027 misadventure?” It was mainly an admonition on the requirement to prevent revenge as state policy and an argument that office-holders would do much better to construct concrete democratic scorecards and task them to their individuals instead of looking for to scapegoat predecessors.

My admonition followed the relocation by the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, to drag the previous President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki– who governed Kwara in between 2003 and 2011– and his follower, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, into the prosecutions occurring from the notorious Offa burglary of 2018. Thirty-three individuals passed away because event, consisting of a number of police officers and a pregnant lady; numerous others sustained dangerous injuries. 6 suspects were ultimately advanced for trial; among them passed away before it might advance far. The staying implicated individuals have actually given that been sentenced to death by the High Court and after that the Court of Appeal. Both courts verified the capital punishment on the implicated, based upon the proof proffered by the prosecution and on the suggestions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The case is waiting for the last recognized leg of the judicial procedure, the pinnacle court of the land.

As the drumbeats of the 2027 election started to sound throughout Kwara and states of the federation, the incumbent administration because state all of a sudden kept in mind to resume the Offa burglary case, revealing that it had actually discovered “fresh proof” with which to prosecute Saraki and Ahmed– males who had actually currently been cleared of misbehavior by the Director of Public Prosecutions, whose reports underpinned judgments from 2 tiers of the Nigerian courts. What called attention to the federal government’s objective was not simply the characters included. It was the media blitz around the release of the details. Covers of some papers were sprinkled with reports detailing why the previous Senate President and his follower need to not be spared prosecution in the currently extended case. My thinking was that half of the energy and the funds dedicated to revealing the intent to start the prosecution might do something in the lives of the victims of the craven event and even the traumatised victims of banditry in Kaiama and other locations. The state was extremely loud on the intent to prosecute Saraki and co, while it has actually been mostly quiet about wrecking outlaws who had nearly entirely took 2 of the 3 senatorial districts in the state.

I revealed issue at the time that the effort to transport Saraki and Ahmed into the fray looked more like an effort to politicise a criminal matter in the light of unfolding political advancements in the state. Discontent was currently growing amongst the band of “O To Ge” (enough suffices) political leaders who had actually integrated to oust Saraki’s dynasty in 2019. From “O To Ge” the street talk had actually moved to “Osu Wa” (we are tired) and after that “O Tun Ya” (let us go once again). The optics were not beneficial for the incumbent, and the picked action seemed a clampdown on dissenting voices, especially Saraki and those related to him.

Among the instruments was the much-publicised strategy to prosecute the previous Senate President over the Offa burglary. Another was the criminal libel fit submitted by the Governor versus Saraki over remarks the latter was stated to have actually made questioning the Governor’s academic credentials– remarks made in April in reaction to the earlier effort to draw Saraki into criminal procedures.

As I forecasted in May, the chickens seem coming home to roost in Kwara. The turbulence surrounding the APC primaries has actually positioned the Governor and his camp under higher pressure than they expected. Details offered to me recommends that the Governor’s side has actually been forced to mobilise some state senior citizens in an effort to fix up crucial leaders of the G15 and other aggrieved figures who had actually sworn never ever to satisfy the Governor once again, even as the Saraki-led Rainbow Coalition collects momentum. If reports that specific APC guvs are anxious about Nyesom Wike’s Rainbow Coalition are precise, among those guvs is AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara. Paradoxically, his choice to target Saraki for political annihilation appears to have actually backfired: the previous Senate President has actually gained back traction amongst numerous Kwarans, who significantly see the relocations versus him as persecution. So far, the Governor’s actions and the resulting political characteristics appear to validate the misadventure prepared for in the May post.

Any recurring doubt on that rating is being eliminated by the judiciary. Recently the Court of Appeal got rid of the very first of them when it dismissed the Governor’s criminal character assassination claim versus Saraki. In a judgment provided by Justice Ridwan Abdullahi on behalf of a panel that consisted of Justices Gabriel Omoniyi Kolawole and Abdu Dogo, the court turned down the contention that Saraki’s talk about the Governor’s scholastic certifications can prompting violence or triggering a breakdown of order. The justices held that the prosecution’s witnesses had actually stopped working to develop any breach of the peace; what they showed was simply their own discontentment with the remarks.

The court mentioned: “There was absolutely nothing in the declaration by Dr Saraki being suffered by Mr AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Governor of Kwara State, that can prompting violence in any part of Kwara State or moving any person to turn to the breakdown of order.”

It went on to observe that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the Kwara State Penal Code Law and the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act were not enacted to protect people from uneasy declarations: “The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the Penal Code Law of Kwara State, and the Cybercrime and Cyberbullying Law were not enacted for the function of securing people versus declarations that they were uneasy with.” The court verified that “Nobody, no matter how effective, can effectively smother the voice of dissent, especially when those in federal government stop working in their obligation to individuals.”

Credit is because of the Governor for a minimum of looking for redress through the courts instead of turning to deceptive techniques like the implementation of political punks– approaches still utilized by a few of his associates. At the exact same time, the requirement for tolerance of opposing views need to be stressed. A specifying function of military culture is the command structure: comply with initially, grumble later on. In a civilian democracy, choices are effectively reached through argument and conversation. The culture of “instant result” has actually sunk deep into the material of our polity, and numerous Government Houses considering that 1999 have actually been more militarised than they were under the khaki guys. There are accounts of guvs who open an Executive Council conference and close it themselves, speaking from start to end up while Exco memos are merely “brought, brought”. In many cases, the Secretary to the Government has actually needed to plead consistently with His Excellency not to stake out a position at the start, lest every subsequent contribution be bent to fit the Governor’s line. The outcome is badly disputed policy, which commissioners and other council members then have a hard time to safeguard in public, although it had actually stemmed from their ministries.

Our counsel to Governor AbdulRazaq for that reason stays the exact same. Regardless of the reverse suffered at the Court of Appeal, reports from Kwara represent a guv growing less tolerant of opposition. The record is extending. President Goodluck Jonathan when explained himself as the most mistreated Nigerian president; more just recently, President Bola Tinubu has actually stated he no longer follows social networks due to the fact that of the volume of abuse. People may, in disappointment, call leaders names. Dragging them through the courts or looking for to silence them by prosecution need to not end up being the standard.

If a challenger implicates among never ever having actually gone to secondary school or university, the cleanest counterclaim is to call one’s schoolmates and produce the certificate. It is not to release the power of incumbency to conjure up criminal libel, cyber-bullying or insinuations that somebody’s security can not be ensured in the state.

In Between Saraki and AbdulRazaq, the Court of Appeal’s judgment is just the opening round of numerous fights the political heavyweights of Kwara are most likely to eliminate on the roadway to 2027. Currently Saraki’s camp has actually drawn in guys of compound from the Governor’s side. A minimum of 2 of the 3 Senate seats, a variety of House of Representatives tickets, the governorship seat itself and numerous State Assembly constituencies are amongst the rewards still to be objected to.

As I firmly insisted in May, an incumbent guv’s greatest marketing tool stays his scorecard– his proven record of efficiency that resonates with the requirements of individuals. It needs to not include tasks that simply stand out yet provide little financial worth. Some guvs and their handlers declare themselves the very best thing that ever occurred to their states. The correct concerns are more browsing: which of their traditions will still stand after 8 years? We are not mentioning the half-century and more that Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s accomplishments continue to count. What financial plan have they executed that protects the state’s future? And numerous others like them.

For Governor AbdulRazaq, when it comes to his coworkers in today democratic dispensation, tolerance of opposing viewpoints stays an essential part of democracy. It is a culture that should be found out.

(Published by the Sunday Tribune, October 18, 2026)