It’s no more a news that Ambassador Yahaya Seriki is gunning for the Kwara Central Senatorial ticket under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Business magnate on Friday took a huge step towards the actualisation of his dream as he set out consultation and engagement with members of the party in all the wards ahead of the Primaries.
The intra-party engagement saw the 2019 Gubernational aspirant meeting with APC party executives and members across Ilorin West and East local governments area of the State.
From Magaji Ngeri Ward One to Adewole, Ibagun, Oko-Erin, Magaji Are One, Warrah-Oja, Baboko, Badari, Gambari Ward One and Two, large crowd trooped out en masse to welcome the Senatorial hopeful with drums and gongs.
Seriki in his first call of the day paid a visit to the Secretariat of the Ilorin West APC Elders solidarity forum where he met with all the party stalwarts and intimate his ambition with them.
“I am here to seek for your permission as I set out to engage all the wards across the four local governments that make up Kwara Central Senatorial. I have deemed it fit to come to you first because I believe that you have great influence on all our stakeholders giving your elder statesman status,” he said.
While urging them to give him the mandate, he promised to deliver the best of representation that will bear unrivaled impacts on the lives of the constituents.
The tour, which is expected to be a three-day affair will take Ambassador Seriki round 52 wards across Ilorin West, East South and Asa local governments area of Kwara State.
Reacting to the development, one of the Elders of the party Alhaji Onimago while wishing him well in his aspiration commended him for standing with the party and Governor adding that, “We are going to give you our support and you will emerge victorious at the end.”
Who is Ambassador Abdulfatai Yahaya Seriki Gambari?
Born in the mid 70s , the APC Chieftain is a businessman with interest prominently in Mining industry. A philanthropist and a grassroots politician who played a huge role in the struggle that culminated into the victory of APC over PDP in the last general elections in the State.
Background
Ambassador Yahaya Seriki Gambari is no doubt one of the political gladiators in the present day Kwara Politics.
His Senatorial ambition according to him is borne of the desire to close the widening gap between the constituents and the lawmakers.
In 2019, Yahaya claimed that he, in the best interest of the people, stepped down for the current Governor of the State, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to become the flag bearer of APC, hence his current ambition to go to the Senate which he believes enjoys the blessings of the Governor.
“I engaged all other aspirants most especially from the Kwara Central on the need for consensus candidate in 2019 ahead of our party primaries . Many of them were not ready to drop their ambition out of what I would tag as personal interest but not public interest,” he said.
He continued, “I was the first person to step down for Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and rally support for him. Even when other aspirants after the Primaries made efforts to take the mandate away from him, i stood by him from then till now and I never left him alone.”
Not going to Senate to sponsor too much bills?
While it is explicitly clear that lawmakers are expected to make laws and bills geared toward the development of the society, Seriki believes that sponsoring many bills isn’t the ultimate achievements of any lawmaker.
“I am not going to the Senate to compete with people who are sponsoring like 20 or 15 bills. Even if it’s three bills I would have to sponsor that will bear meaningful impact on the lives of the people, I am okay with that- not that I will just be sponsoring many bills which have little or no impacts on the people,” he quipped
Stressing the imperative for ‘impactful’ bills, he hinted that, the need to review the power industry in Nigeria most as it borders on the unregulated Electricity tariff that people have to pay every month without a ‘metre’ is among many other bills he intends to sponsor.
Philanthropic gesture!
The altruism nature of Ambassador Seriki came in handy in the activities of the tour on Friday as many would have fortunes smile on them – benefiting from his philanthropic gesture.
Aside financial donations to all the wards, the Gambari-born politician also seized the opportunity to lift many downtrodden from the trenches.
Among many other interventions, Seriki on Friday at Adewole Ward donated a sum of Two hundred and fifty thousand naira to the Parents of Abdulqudus Suleiman for his eyes surgery.
In Warrah-Oja Ward, a furniture worker named Mukaila Suleiman and an aged Mariam Ambali had their life changed when he gifted them two hundred thousand naira and a hundred thousand naira to aid their businesses.
While it was another cheering news for a physically challenged Mukaila Muhammad at Badari Ward, the gesture of the Kursi investments limited founder again come into play as he pledged to purchase a new motorcycle to ease the movement of the disabled.
“God has used me to take many people out of the street. Presently, over 1000 youths work at my company situated at Bode-Saadu. I also have another one at Afon- I am the only politician that has done that in the whole of Kwara State.
“I have been empowering people for the past 12 years and I pray that God will continue to provide for me to raise people out of the woods,” he stated.
The battle for the Senatorial ticket
With no hint or clue on which process the party is going to consider to choose its flag bearers, Yahaya Seriki is expected to battle it out with other two Political heavyweights
who had expressed interest to clinch the APC ticket.
The incumbent Senator Yahaya Oloriegbe and the Turaki of Ilorin Emirate, Mallam Salihu Mustapha are both other aspirants vying for the ticket under the platform of APC.
The tour of the wards is expected to continue on Saturday as he takes the gospel to the nooks and crannies of the Senatorial district.