The senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District, Saliu Mustapha, has expressed confidence that he would defeat Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in the 2027 election for the district’s Senate seat.
Mustapha made the assertion during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, monitored by our correspondent on Friday, hours after the Senior Special Assistant on Communications to the Governor, Ibraheem Abdullateef, dismissed claims surrounding the political rift between the two men.
Asked whether he could defeat the governor in the event of a contest for the Kwara Central senatorial seat, Mustapha said the outcome would be clear shortly after voting commenced.
“I will defeat him before 12 noon,” Mustapha said.
The senator, who recently left the All Progressives Congress for the Peoples Democratic Party, is seeking to retain his Kwara Central seat on the platform of the opposition party amid unfolding political realignments ahead of the 2027 general election.
Mustapha said his decision to leave the APC was not an individual one, maintaining that it was collectively taken by members of the G15 political group.
The senator also alleged that AbdulRazaq had been threatened by his political popularity, which he suggested was partly responsible for the strained relationship between them.
Mustapha’s comments came hours after Abdullateef, in a statement responding to earlier allegations made by the senator’s Executive Assistant, Abdulkareem Alabi, dismissed claims that the governor had cut off communication with him or was responsible for his failure to secure the APC governorship ticket.
The governor’s aide also denied claims that AbdulRazaq and Mustapha had reached an agreement to swap political positions ahead of the 2027 election.
“Mallam Salihu Mustapha and Governor interact frequently. The claim that Governor blocked his line after attending a reconciliation meeting chaired by the Emir and the late Chief Imam is false,” Abdullateef said.
“Recall that both Governor and Senator attended the last Eid prayer together. The senator was the one who called the governor to tag along with him as his companion.”
Abdullateef also rejected the claim that AbdulRazaq took the governorship ticket from Mustapha, saying the senator was denied the ticket by President Bola Tinubu.
“The governor did not block his line as claimed. It is also a false claim that the governor took the governorship ticket from the Senator. The truth is, it is President Tinubu who denied him the governorship ticket,” he said.
The governor’s aide further denied that there was any meeting or agreement between AbdulRazaq and Mustapha over a proposed exchange of political positions.
“Meanwhile, when the Presidency contacted the governor for comment on the Senator’s claim that he had met with the governor for a position swap, the governor rejected it that there was no such meeting or agreement between them,” Abdullateef said.
He added that Mustapha was responsible for losing the APC governorship ticket, alleging that the senator misrepresented his discussions with the governor to the President.
“The senator is the major cause of his own loss of the ticket. This was so because he lied to the President that he had struck an agreement to swap positions with the governor,” Abdullateef said.
“Due to that, the President gave the governor approval to go ahead and pick his favourite candidate, a move that produced Yakubu Danladi-Salihu,” he added.
Mustapha, however, used his appearance on Politics Today to reject another allegation being circulated against him: a purported 2022 letter in which he was said to have pledged to spend only one term in the Senate.
The letter, dated May 21, 2022, and addressed to AbdulRazaq, purportedly contained a “covenant” by Mustapha to serve only one four-year term as senator if elected.
It also suggested that he pledged to follow the governor’s directives and remain loyal to him during and after his tenure.
But the Kwara Central senator described the document as fake, insisting that he neither authored nor signed the version circulating online.
“That document is fake. That is not the document I signed. They misspelt my name. Everything about that looks fake,” Mustapha said.
He acknowledged writing an original letter at the time but maintained that its contents had been altered in the version now being circulated.
According to Mustapha, the letter stated his intention to seek a higher political office after spending one term in the Senate, with his ambition at the time focused on the Kwara governorship.
“In the original letter I signed, I stated clearly that in my bid for going for a higher office, I’ll go to Senate for only a term. That is why I didn’t contest for Senate. It was governorship,” he said.
Mustapha also denied entering into any agreement with AbdulRazaq to serve only one term in the Senate.
“I didn’t sign any agreement with Raman. Let him come and swear with the Quran,” he said.
The senator further gave his account of discussions surrounding his governorship ambition, claiming that Dr Ghali approached him over concerns about his growing popularity and plans to reserve the Kwara Central Senate seat for a member of the AbdulRazaq family.
“What happened was that it was Dr Ghali that came to meet me that they are threatened about my popularity and they want to reserve Senate seat for the AbdulRazaq family,” Mustapha said.
He said he was willing to support such an arrangement because he was then interested in contesting the 2027 governorship election.
“We are aware you want to go for the governorship in 2027. I told them it is fine, since I’ll be going for the governor. Any of the AbdulRazaq’s family can go for Senate. It is as easy as that. We will support each other. They then said it is fine,” Mustapha said.
He further alleged that the letter now circulating online was forged as part of an attempt to undermine his political ambition.
“In a bid to frustrate us, the governor went to forge this document,” Mustapha alleged.