Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and his loyalists in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to secure an unopposed passage to the Senate in 2027 appears to have suffered a major setback following the inclusion of Senator Saliu Mustapha in the final list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Mustapha, the incumbent Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has emerged on the electoral body’s final list, effectively putting to rest weeks of speculation over his possible disqualification.
For days, APC loyalists and social media influencers sympathetic to Governor AbdulRazaq had openly celebrated the possibility of Mustapha’s removal from the contest, hinging their expectations on a recent Supreme Court judgment concerning provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
The judgment had triggered intense political speculation over the eligibility of some opposition candidates, with APC supporters expressing confidence that Mustapha would eventually be excluded from the ballot.
However, the publication of INEC’s final list has dealt a significant blow to those expectations, leaving the Governor and his supporters facing the prospect of a keenly contested senatorial election in 2027.
Reacting to the development, Barrister Alabi Abdulkareem, an aide to Senator Mustapha, mocked the Governor’s camp, accusing it of banking on judicial and administrative technicalities rather than seeking the mandate of the electorate.
In a strongly worded social media post, Abdulkareem declared:
“They plan, Allah plans, and Allah is the best of planners.
“Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s only hope of winning the next election was the possibility of having Turaki’s name removed from the INEC list.
“Now that that hope has been dashed, we humbly ask him to come out and face the people of Kwara Central on the campaign field.
“We have told them repeatedly that he cannot become a Senator through the backdoor. He must stand for election and lose fair and square next year.”
With Mustapha’s name now appearing on the final INEC list, attention is expected to shift from the controversy surrounding his nomination to the battle for votes across the four local government areas of Kwara Central Senatorial District.
The development also represents a significant political boost for Mustapha and his supporters, who have consistently maintained that the Senator’s candidature remains valid despite the controversy generated by the Supreme Court judgment.
For Governor AbdulRazaq and his supporters, the prospect of avoiding a direct electoral confrontation with Mustapha appears increasingly remote. The contest, rather than being decided through the disqualification of a major opponent, is now set to be fought at the ballot box.
