Sardauna’s Legacy Under Threat

Last week, Kwara State governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was turbaned as the Sardauna of Ilorin Emirate in a ceremony witnessed by party bigwigs, including Vice President Kashim Shettima.

For one day, Ilorin became the centre and the future of Nigerian politics. The ceremony also came just a day after APC governors cried for help against what they perceived as a threat to their hold on state politics.

Sardauna is a title that is meant to cement Abdulrazaq’s place as an enduring political leader in the state.

And to claim the position, he had to topple a decades-long political dynasty led by Bukola Saraki, a one-time President of the Nigerian Senate, two-term governor of Kwara, and a 2019 presidential candidate of the PDP.

The question now is whether the governor’s claim to the title of Sardauna is premature, given that it comes during an election period when Saraki is looking to make a comeback and just as forces within the opposition PDP are realigning.

That means Saraki and Salihu Mustapha, who is the party’s governorship candidate in the state, are receiving support from outside and from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.

Surprisingly, bringing the mighty PDP to its knees and chasing out its many state governors was easier than most people would have imagined.

While it is clear that Governor Abdulrazak and Senator Mustapha are only thinking of the election at hand, Senator Saraki and even Nyesom Wike, who has been drawn into the politics of Kwara and is a major financier of the PDP and its many candidates, are looking beyond 2027.

And after weeding out unwanted elements and consolidating his grip on the PDP, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike is now taking steps to rebuild the party.

That means getting as many governors and lawmakers elected on the party’s platform during the 2027 general elections.

It also means going against APC governors, their preferred successors, and, in some cases, the governors themselves, in their quests to claim Senate seats.

To say that the APC governors have been rattled by the minister’s moves would be an understatement.

The minister’s moves also appear to have succeeded in distracting Governor Hope Uzodinma from his broader political objective of supporting President Bola Tinubu’s re-election and securing his election as a senator even before his term as governor runs out. Cracks are opening in the APC. But is it as structurally weak as the PDP proved to be and only a means of gaining power?

According to reports, APC governors are suffering panic attacks in Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Cross River, Ebonyi, and Ogun, where the Wike-led PDP sees vulnerabilities.

Now all the APC governors are closing ranks, not only in support of President Tinubu’s re-election, but to stop the opposition PDP from regaining a foothold in their states.

For the PDP and for Saraki to make a comeback, Kwara is clearly ground zero. And despite the gathering of the APC governors, the challenge of ensuring the APC remains formidable beyond 2027 is really in the hands of Sardauna.