Maigida’s Homegrown Victory

With a near accurate political strategy and widespread support across the different interests in Kwara State, Governor Ahmed Abdulfatah’s reelection victory was a homemade, writes Shola Oyeyipo

In the buildup to the just concluded general election, bookmakers wouldn’t have had to ruminate too much, neither would they have required very rigorous empirical analysis in determining who was likely to win the governorship race in Kwara Sate because as the elections were drawing closer, it was becoming clearer that the incumbent, Governor Ahmed Abdulfatah otherwise called Maigida enjoyed wide support among the people from across the length and breadth of the state.

Although there were times when the political climate looked unpredictable because of certain permutations, particularly after Ahmed and his predecessor, Senator Bukola Saraki left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the crisis that eventually brought the PDP to its knees.

During the early permutations, the fear among some was that it might not be politically wise to put Governor Ahmed forward as the APC candidate – that the APC was considering picking its candidate from either Central or North senatorial district, as a way to checkmate the PDP, which was most likely going to pick its candidate from the Central, which usually produces the highest number of votes in the state. The governor is from the South.

But that speculation was soon put behind the governor after Senator Saraki, who is not only a strong political force in the Central, but across the state, eventually cleared the air in the matter by openly endorsing Ahmed’s second term at a meeting with some Kwara State political stakeholders at his Ilorin, Kwara State residence about three months before the election.

At that forum, Saraki was quoted as saying: “I appreciate Governor Ahmed and I believe he deserves a second term. I, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, hereby endorse him for another four years in office.”

Those words put an end to months of speculation and it was also an icing on the cake for the sustained quest of the entire people of Kwara South and the governor’s teeming supporters across the state, who had shown solidarity with him and expressed support for his second term in office basically because of their conviction that he has not only been loyal to his predecessor and leader, but also because he upped the ante of performance in his first year.

The initial fear among the Kwara State stakeholders was never that Ahmed did not perform well. In fact, following the Saraki template, he could be said to have taken the state further ahead in the aspects of human capital and infrastructure development, yet the people were apprehensive that the people of the South themselves may not give their own the needed support.

Realising that the issue of his support base was part of the consideration, the Kwara South people quickly took possession of his campaigns. They commenced a first of its kind massive mobilisation of Kwara South indigenes resident in Kwara, Lagos and other parts of the country. They mobilised them to return to home and obtain voters’ cards as a way to boost the number of eligible voters from the area and increase the chances of their governor.

At a point when he was perturbed that the mobilisation was more enormous in his district than other districts, Ahmed directed the handlers of his campaign to extend the mobilisation to other parts of the state and not quite four weeks after, Ahmed started receiving barrages of endorsements from practically every district and groups in the state.

The chairman, Elders Forum of Ifeldun local government, Alhaji Kola Yusuf; the chairman commercial motorcyclists, Alhaji Abdulraheem Akanbi; women under the aegis of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), led by Hajia Barakat Atunse; the Kazzem Adekanye-led Kwara State chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) and a host of others lent their voices to the support of Ahmed on account of various people-oriented developmental strides of the administration.

By the time it eventually came, the Saraki endorsement was complementary to the gale of other endorsements that came Ahmed’s way. By then, notable politicians including former governor and National Assembly member representing Kwara North at the Senate, Senator Shaaba Lafiagi; House of Representatives member, Alhaji Aman Pategi, business and community leaders from the North, as well as traditional rulers were all present when respectable traditional ruler, the Emir of Lafiagi, Alhaji Kawu Haliru, certified the governor for another term at a public event.

When Haliru declared support for Ahmed, it was considered a game changer ahead of the elections, especially as it sealed the support of the North for the governor. And North, like Central, also votes en block and has the second highest voting strength after Central.

It was a valuable endorsement because the contention had been that the North senatorial district was also clamouring for the governorship. But where several groups, including student bodies, artisans, various sociopolitical organisations, reputable individuals and even the revered traditional ruler said the governor deserved a second term, the issues were laid to rest and paved the way for the incumbent to enter into the race stronger.

Aside the politics of endorsement, Ahmed also went into the election with an impressive scorecard that gave him further acceptance among the people of the state. At every opportunity, his campaign organisation reeled out various accomplishments of the administration and kept promising the people that given one more chance, the governor was prepared to double his efforts and better.

The administration went into the election having completed over 31 road projects at Oke-Ode/ Igbaja road, Okerimi-Oro, Araorin/Arandun, market/Landmark Road in Omu-aran and in other districts. There was also the vocational centre at Ajase-Ipo, designed by government to produce the needed manpower for the state and curtail the influx of non-Kwarans, who are taking over certain appointments considered too technical for untrained professionals. It is a project established in partnership with a renowned school of vocational training, City and Guide, London, the United Kingdom.

The government also embarked on statewide provision of potable water as contained in the pre-election promises. Not less than 234 boreholes were sunk while 17 water works were rehabilitated under the scheme.

The Quick Win initiative for youth employment, a temporary measure targeted at making youths in the state gainfully engaged and to eradicate social crimes, which the governor promised would translate into permanent jobs, was another selling point for the administration. This added to his ability to sustain the Shonga Farm, established by the Saraki administration as a commercial farm that created jobs and was a huge source of income for the people. It attracted support for the governor from the people.

Embarking on Independent Power Project (IPP) to drive industrialisation, rehabilitation of schools, construction of 800km of roads and embarking on operation no potholes, the introduction of Harmony Holdings, Kwara Bridge Empowerment Scheme (KWABES), completion of the Aviation College started by the Saraki administration, reduction in the fees payable by students in the state-owned University and provision of N100 million micro credit to micro and small scale enterprises are considered parts of the factors responsible for the support Ahmed secured preparatory to the election.

The state installed transformers in 135 communities and connected them to the national grid, while farmers got support from government, particularly in the area of fertilizer provision.

In the area of healthcare delivery, five General Hospitals located in various parts of the state were rehabilitated with 13 ambulances and drugs provided to hospitals. But that was not enough; the promise by the governor to revamp and expand the Kwara State Community Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) boosted his electoral profile and contributed in no small measure to his victory and the victory of the APC presidential candidate, General Muahammdu Buhari at the polls.

A project supported by international development partners to cover about one million Kwarans resident in the rural communities is a policy that endeared the administration to the people. Many said it was ‘stomach infrastructure’ re-branded.

The CHIS received local and international commendations. For instance, the United Nations (UN) designated the scheme as a global success. Also fascinated by the success story of the scheme, officials and legislators of the Ogun State Government visited Kwara State to understudy the implementation of the concept.

It also won a finalist prize at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee awards for taking development initiative of such a scale. The concept, which provides recipients with a subsidised year round basic healthcare for a N500 premium also received accolades from Bill Gates Foundation for its creative approach to pro-poor health care.

With the arrangement, the Kwara State Government in collaboration with Hygeia Nigeria Limited, Dutch Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Pharm Access Foundation and Health Insurance Fund partnered in 2007 to implement and subsidise the scheme for low income Kwara population.

The scheme which kicked off in Shonga and Bacita environs of Edu local government area same year, was expanded to Asa and Oyun local government areas between 2007 and 2013 but the current administration plans to ensure that it is established in each of the senatorial districts of the state, with the ultimate aim to cover an estimated one million rural dwellers in the state.

Some of the main features of the scheme include integrated health delivery in collaboration with health insurance companies in Nigeria, providing subsidised community health insurance policies for the rural poor families in the state and consequently elongating the lives of the citizenry.It was put in place on a public-private partnership basis to address the challenges of providing affordable healthcare as well as improving financial protection, increasing investments, setting standards for quality of care and upgrading of health facilities.

During the visit by officials of Ogun State Government, Ahmed, who had hitherto been quiet about the success recorded by the project revealed that between 2007 and 2013, no fewer than 600,000 rural dwellers were enrolled, and promised to facilitate the expansion of the scheme to about 800,000 enrollees during the second phase which runs between 2013 and 2018.

Thus, in appraising the 2015 elections in Kwara State, it wouldn’t be wrong to conclude that Ahmed’s pre-election game plans, his all-round endorsement by critical stakeholders and impressive performance during his first term all combined to dwarf his main opponent, the PDP candidate, Senator Simon Ajibola, who is from the same South as the governor.

Analysts however faulted the decision of the PDP to pick its candidate from the governor’s district, where he enjoys massive support, expecting Ajibola to slug it out with the Saraki factor in the Central and Lafiagi’s grip in the North, was a flawed strategy that eventually undid the PDP.