Kwara APC announces Seriki as Gov AbdulRazaq’s Campaign DG

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State has announced AbdulFatai Yahaya Seriki Gambari as the director-general of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s Campaign Council.

Spokesperson of the party in the state, Alh Folaranmi Tajudeen Aro, disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday in Ilorin.

Aro also announced the appointment of former Kwara All Progressive Congress acting chairman, Abdullahi Samari as the Deputy Director-General and Commissioner for Finance, Florence Olasunbo as spokesperson.

The statement added that the party chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi assured members of the party that the names of other members of the council will be announced in due course.

Who is AbdulFatai Yahaya Seriki Gambari?

Seriki is a former governorship aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 gubernatorial election and is also a ranking chieftain of APC in Kwara state. He was the first candidate to step down to rally support for the current Governor Abdrahman Abdulrasaq.

He served as the Director General of the campaign that produced the current Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq. He is a prominent member of the ‘O To Ge’ Movement that unseats the politics of the former senate President of Nigeria Bukola Saraki in Kwara state.

In 2022, he contested to represent Kwara Central at the upper chamber of Nigeria’s parliament but lost to a former national chairmanship aspirant, Saliu Mustapha. Though, he initially kicked against the primary election process, but he later accepted and declared support for the winner. He is considered to be one of the topmost loyalists of the incumbent governor.

The contest

Participation in elections in Kwara state is typically low, but political analysts say the current political atmosphere and the emergence of stronger third forces may push more people to vote.

The main contest is between the incumbent governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of the APC and main opposition candidate, Shuaib Yaman, who was a former commissioner representing Kwara at Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RAMFC) and backed by Kwara strongman, Bukola Saraki.

But Hakeem Lawal, an aspirant in the 2019 elections and son of former governor of Kwara and Ogun state, has excited a large number of followers after joining a smaller opposition party, and could be a wildcard in 2023.

Both Yaman and Lawal contested to be the gubernatorial flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress in 2019. They lost out and eventually supported Governor AbdulRazaq to defeat Saraki and put an end to the latter’s decades-old dynasty.

However, immediately after winning the election, fight broke out among major figures which eventually led to several bigwigs leaving for opposition parties. Many political analysts now believe that the governor – who was the major beneficiary of the revolution that ousted the Saraki dynasty – is now facing his first real political battle.