A group of 10 Kwara governorship aspirants has petitioned President Bola Tinubu, seeking his intervention over what they described as the deterioration of the state All Progressives Congress.

In the letter dated June 19 and addressed to Mr Tinubu, the aspirants rejected the emergence of the speaker of the house of assembly, Yakubu Danladi, as the APC governorship candidate and expressed concerns over the future of the ruling party in the state.

“While we join in celebrating the milestones of your administration, we consider it imperative to draw your urgent attention to the grave and worsening situation within our party in Kwara State,” the letter read. “We do so with profound respect, but also with a deep sense of responsibility and concern for the future of the APC and the political legacy your leadership helped to shape in our state.”

The letter, signed by 10 governorship aspirants, including Saliu Mustapha, Yahaya Seriki Gambari, Yahaya Oloriegbe, Dele Belgore, Omar Bio and Bashir Bolarinwa, came barely a month after Mr Danladi emerged as the APC governorship candidate in the state ahead of the 2027 general election.

Mr Danladi was declared the winner of the primary in May having polled a total of 94,990 votes to defeat Messrs Seriki and Bolarinwa who came second and third with 41,700 and 22,118 votes, respectively. 

However, Mr Danladi’s candidacy had drawn concerns from party’s stakeholders who insisted he lacked the statewide appeal required for the ruling APC to retain power next year.

The aspirants, in the letter, further accused Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of failure to provide inclusive, broad-based and unifying leadership needed to sustain the APC in the state.

Citing apprehension among party members and stakeholders following Mr Danladi’s emergence, the aspirants noted that Mr Abdulrazaq had lost the moral and political authority to determine the future of the ruling party in the state.

“Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has, in our considered view, failed to provide the inclusive, broad-based, and unifying leadership required to sustain the coalition that brought our party to power.

“Over the past seven years, key stakeholders who devoted their resources, energy, and political capital to the building of the APC in Kwara State have been alienated, marginalised, or deliberately excluded from meaningful participation in both government and party affairs.

“In our firm assessment, Governor AbdulRazaq has lost the moral and political authority to determine the future of the APC in Kwara State. His popularity has declined markedly, and there is widespread apprehension among party members and stakeholders that any candidate associated with his endorsement may be seriously disadvantaged at the polls,” the letter explained.

The governorship hopefuls urged Mr Tinubu to examine the developments in the state, particularly the circumstances surrounding the party’s governorship primary.

“That Your Excellency take a sober and critical look at the developments in Kwara State, including the circumstances surrounding the announcement of results for primaries that did not hold, and intervene in the interest of the party’s survival,” they said.

They further asked the president to review the records, loyalty, capacity and statewide acceptability of governorship aspirants, pledging to support any consensus candidate acceptable to the president and the APC.

“Should Your Excellency adopt such a course, we give our solemn assurance that we will rally behind any consensus candidate acceptable to Your Excellency and the party.

“We further pledge to commit our collective structures, resources, and political capital toward securingvictory for all APC candidates in the 2027 elections,” the group stated.

The aspirants warned that the ruling APC could face serious electoral challenges in the state, adding many stakeholders might be left to seek alternative platforms to pursue their aspirations if urgent steps were not taken to address the situation.

“Your Excellency, we must state without ambiguity that if the present trajectory is allowed to continue, the electoral prospects of the APC in Kwara State in all elections, including the presidential election, will be severely imperilled. Indeed, many stakeholders may be left with no choice but to seek alternative political platforms to pursue their aspirations in 2027,” the group insisted.

The development came days after the party’s elders caucus, at a press conference, also rejected Mr Danladi’s candidacy, warning that the ruling APC might experience a major electoral setback if concerns over the candidate’s acceptability were ignored.