By Femi Ogunsola
There are moments in politics when a politician does not merely answer questions; he reveals the architecture of his political mind.
For me, Sen Salihu Mustapha’s appearance on Politics Today on Channels Television with Seun Okinbaloye on August 21, 2026, was one of those moments.
Diminishing a people you seek to govern on national television, in a bid to drive home your point, showcases how divisive and poorly you may treat those who do not belong to your clan.
Allowing Senator Salihu Mustapha to go unchallenged with his hegemonic mentality while appearing on Channels TV’s Politics Today with Seun Okinbaloye, who, though from Kwara State, could not challenge the outlandish claims made by the senator, was, for me, disappointing.
I watched your conversation, and, for me, it was laced with incoherence, wobbling and fumbling, with outrageous claims that had no bearing on some of the questions asked by the anchor.
You came on national television to preach division and made some unfounded claims that you were the preferred candidate and that Kwara has not been governed by location but by who is the best.
Who gave you the signal that you were the preferred candidate and that no one else is more qualified than you, even with your divisive politics of superiority over other regions?
You claimed it was by the people’s will and endorsement that you were preferred above others. You must have mistaken your senatorial district for a miniature Kwara, whose opinions are supposedly monolithic with those of other regions. What a mindset driven by superiority.
Which opinion poll did you conduct to arrive at that jejune conclusion?
But does the best only reside in Kwara Central? Is there a monopoly on being the best that is limited to Kwara Central? The best you have in Sen Bukola Saraki, who could not replicate development across the state, is surely not the one to be proud of.
You were also quick to validate the voting strength of Kwara Central, forgetting that equality, fairness and justice should be at the heart of anyone who genuinely loves the state.
Your attempt to dismiss the votes of other regions by saying, “People always come with this mischievous argument that Kwara gives this percentage of vote; Kwara North is the most divided…”—making it look like Kwara Central is the only region that produces the votes that determine who governs the state is nothing but myopic and selfish.
You claimed that Kwara North is the most divided region, with several ethnicities, and cannot, in any way, speak with one voice when it comes to a decision, and that, for that reason, you must continue to trample upon their rights.
This is the same Kwara North that produced Shaaba Lafiagi as Governor; the same Kwara North that stuck with a ruling APC despite having its own contest in the 2023 governorship election, with the hope that sticking with a ruling party would give it a better chance of producing its own, which Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, from day one, was favourably disposed to, until you came with your inordinate ambitions and upstaged the permutation.
You claimed Gov AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq sponsored others from Kwara Central—Ambassador Yahaya Seriki and Senator Oloriegbe against your candidacy because of your popularity.
How it is so convenient for you to make everything about you and your ambition, while pushing away the spirit of fairness, justice and equality, is something to worry about.
It should be clear to you that no region or senatorial district is enough to produce a governor.
For me, it will be a disservice to my generation and those yet unborn from the South and North of Kwara, whom you struggled hard to demystify and diminish to a mere appendage of Kwara Central with your phantom voting homogenous strength that cannot single-handedly make an individual a governor.
I have often placed you on a high pedestal, not until you appeared on television and reduced yourself, in my view, to a mere ethnic jingoist and someone seemingly unconcerned about anything outside your own.
I had this belief that your mind would radiate your fine face. Unfortunately, what I saw you display on TV on Friday was disgustingly shallow, and I make bold to say that you lack finesse and need to seek forgiveness from other zones you desperately disparaged as nobodies on national television.
I think it is incumbent on Kwarans to query your educational qualifications. You couldn’t even marshal your arguments; the errors were monumental and highly disastrous.
I think we need to interrogate you more because what I watched on Friday betrayed the person I had in my head. I know you are generous, but generosity lacking in finesse, justice and fairness does not augur well.
