Former National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Abubakar Kawu Baraje said the people of Kwara State especially the Ilorin indigenes would resist attempt to cede the state to the West in the forthcoming elections.
He said the adoption of campaign slogan, Otoge (which literally means enough is enough in Yoruba dialect) was a subtle attempt to surrender the state to a one-man rule in the South-West, saying the slogan cannot win an election.
Speaking with Daily Trust in Lagos, the PDP chieftain recalled that there had been such attempt to hijack Kwara from the North in 1954 and the conspiracy failed.
According to him, those behind the present move were few “disgruntled and misguided” individuals who have no people behind them.
He is confident that the PDP would coast to victory in the 2019 election, saying the people are behind the leadership of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.
He said, “What wins election are the voters and electorate themselves. As far we are concerned, it is not strange to us and it is not strange to any community particularly Ilorin. In 1954, there was a similar attempt to cede Ilorin to the western and the southern part of Nigeria and the parlance that time was that awa Olo West (we are going to the west) and there was an opposite parlance of Awa olo West(we are not going to the West).
