By Folayimika Akanbi
The Director General, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Professor Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman, has posited that it would be suicidal for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to micro-zone its Kwara State gubernatorial ticket to the Northern region of the state.
He cautioned that the ruling party would be risking its expected victory in Kwara should it resolve to cede the governorship seat to the northern zone on account of sentiment and emotion.
Sulaiman said this in a statement issued on Friday. The report on the statement was obtained from The Cable news.
This came against the backdrop of the agitation in some quarters for the APC to zone its governorship seat to Kwara North being the only zone that is yet to produce a governor since the return of democracy in 1999.
He said, “It will be suicidal on the side of APC. It will be a major risk, an unpardonable risk, if out of love, emotion, sentiment, we decided to sink in the same hole.”
The NILDS Director General explained that zoning must align with electoral realities rather than being treated as an end in itself.
Sulaiman said, “For any political party, the primary objective is victory. Zoning that undermines that objective becomes counterproductive.”
He added that political parties typically rely on measurable factors such as voter population, historical voting patterns, grassroots structures, and candidate viability when deciding where to zone a ticket.
The NILDS Director General warned that zoning to a region where those variables are weak could pose a strategic risk.
He called for a broader consensus within the party ahead of the 2027 election.
Suleiman said unity across Kwara north, central, and south is critical to the party’s electoral success.
He acknowledged that power rotation remains an important mechanism for inclusion and balance among the three senatorial districts in the state.
Reflecting on the 2023 general elections, Suleiman said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suffered electoral setbacks after zoning its governorship ticket to Kwara north.
“And the same PDP, with all intelligence, is trying to correct its past mistakes now by taking power back to Central this time around,” he said.
Suleiman cautioned that repeating similar political calculations could be costly for the APC in the state.
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