2023: Kwara ex-governor’s son, Lawal, emerges SDP gubernatorial candidate

Alhaji Hakeem Lawal, son of former governor of Kwara, late Alhaji Mohammed Lawal, has won the governorship ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara.

The Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the party, Mr Olatunji George, declared Hakeem the winner of the primary election that took place at Arca Center Hall in Ilorin on Monday night.

Lawal polled a total of 607 votes to defeat his opponent, Prof. Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem, that got 177 votes.

During the election, accreditation of delegates did not start until around 2 p.m, while voting started by 5.20 p.m.

The exercise was monitored by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and secretariat of the party.

The chairman of the electoral committee however said that nine votes were voided, adding that 792 delegates were accredited from the 16 local government areas of the state.

Lawal was one of the governorship aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2018 that saw the emergence of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as the candidate.

The state executives of the party had on May 26 held a shadow primary for the governorship aspirants where Lawal emerged as the winner.

But Abdulraheem, one of the aspirants, rejected the mode of selection of the candidate and petitioned the national headquarters of SDP.

The national headquarters ordered a fresh primary by delegates from all the 16 local governments of the state.