Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State on Wednesday rejected the outcome of the party’s primary election for the Edu/Patigi/Moro Federal Constituency House of Representatives seat, insisting that an indigene of Moro won the contest with over 20,400 votes.
The stakeholders alleged that the aspirant eventually declared winner by the leadership of the party came a distant eighth in the primary election, describing the outcome as a miscarriage of justice.
They further lamented that Moro Local Government had suffered prolonged marginalisation in the zoning of elective offices and political appointments, arguing that the outcome of the House of Representatives primary should not further worsen the plight of the people.
Addressing a press conference at the APC Kwara North Senatorial Office in Oyun, Moro Local Government, the spokesman of the group, Alhaji Mustapha Kabir (Waziri Malete), urged the party’s leadership to reverse what he described as an injustice by restoring the House of Representatives mandate allegedly won by a Moro aspirant during the primary election.
The text of the press conference was jointly signed by Kabir; former chairman of Moro Local Government, Alhaji Tunde Yusuf; former Special Adviser to the governor, Hajiya Aisat Issa; former supervisor, Elder James Ajao; and former member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon. Emmanuel Bello.
Kabir lamented that within the Edu/Moro/Patigi Federal Constituency, Edu and Patigi local governments had produced members of the House of Representatives for 16 and 12 years respectively since 1999, while Moro had remained excluded throughout the period.
He added that Moro remained the only local government in Kwara North that had never produced a senator since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, despite its contributions to the political development of the district.
According to him, by 2027, Kaiama, Baruten and Edu local governments would each have produced senators for eight years, while Patigi would have occupied the seat for four years.
Kabir further contended that Moro had also never produced the Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, a minister or a federal board chairman whenever such positions were allocated to Kwara North.
Expressing disappointment over the outcome of the APC House of Representatives primary election, Kabir claimed that a Moro aspirant who secured over 20,400 votes emerged victorious in the exercise monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but was allegedly replaced with another aspirant from Edu Local Government who scored 157 votes and was eventually declared the party’s candidate for the 2027 general election.
He argued that with the emergence of the APC senatorial candidate from Patigi Local Government and the House of Representatives candidate from Edu Local Government, Moro’s chances of producing either a senator or a member of the House of Representatives in the next electoral cycle had been effectively extinguished.
Kabir said the development had left the people of Moro feeling betrayed despite what he described as their unwavering loyalty to the APC and support for the Kwara North political agenda.
“We are not asking for charity. We are demanding fairness, equity, justice and recognition. Moro should no longer be treated as a second-class participant in the political affairs of Kwara North,” he said.
He also lamented that some aspirants from Moro resigned from the civil service in compliance with electoral regulations and contested the primary election in good faith, only to lose what they described as a mandate they had legitimately earned.
Warning that the continued exclusion of Moro could deepen political alienation and underdevelopment in the local government, Kabir appealed to the APC leadership at both the state and national levels to address what he described as an anomaly by recognising Moro’s electoral victory in the House of Representatives primary.
He also urged sons and daughters of Moro to remain peaceful while collectively demanding equitable representation, insisting that justice should not be sacrificed for political expediency.
