The Kwara state APC governorship candidate in the 2019 elections, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, has denied saying that working with or for Saraki amounted to “sabotaging my own effort to liberate Kwara.” In a statement he issued in Ilorin, the APC candidate pointed out that coming from one of the most popular families in Ilorin and Kwara stateas well as the founder of First Fuels, a highly successful company inthe oil sector since the 80s, he had no inclination towards associating with Bukola Saraki.
Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazak also recalled that his elder brother Alhaji Alimi AbdulRazaq brought PDP to Kwara state in 1999 and ran on its platform against the Sarakibacked Mohammed Lawal while he (Abdulrahman) ran on President Muhammadu Buhari’s party, CPC, in 2011 against defunct ACN candidate, Mohammed Dele Belgore, and Saraki’s stalwart AbdulFatah Ahmed before joining PDP in 2014 to contest for Kwara Central Senatorial Seat against Bukola Saraki of APC.
He explained that his friends and associates had advised him to focuson his business, continue to care for our people but shun Kwara politics which he accepted until mid2014 when, on a visit to his family home in Ilorin he was saddened by the lack of development as nothing had changed in several decades and there was no hope of improvement unlike the scenario in other parts of West Africa where he has businesses.
Alhaji AbdulRahman disclosed that this episode engaged his thought towards realizing that only selfless leadership in Kwara state could deliver the desired transformation through progressive development.
This motivated him to launch the Irapada Kwara and Kwara Emancipation Movement in mid2014 prior to initially leaning towards President Buhari’s Change Agenda in the APC.
