RAFIU AJAKAYE
Tens of thousands of Kwara residents waved ecstatically on the streets of Ilorin to usher in the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other dignitaries to the state for the campaign flag off.
The candidate, his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, and the party chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, arrived the city in company of several APC leaders and stakeholders, and were received by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and a legion of APC candidates and leaders from across the state of harmony.
It is a rally like no other in the recent history of the state, with security agencies struggling to clear the human traffic that heralded Asiwaju’s arrival to the city of Sheikh Alimi as he waived the broom and danced to the different tunes of music crooned by supporters and admirers alike.
On the welcome train were the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the three Senators from Kwara State and their colleagues from Kogi and other parts of Nigeria, cabinet members, APC candidates, and hundreds of party stalwarts — many donning the Emilokan cap, others adorned with the insignia of his cap.
Accompanied by a motorcade that stretched a few kilometers, the double-decker Marco Polo bus conveying Tinubu and the dignitaries got locked in a suffocating human traffic formed by thousands of supporters and admirers who lined the streets to the Emir’s Palace from the Ilorin International Airport.
The convoy is now headed first to the Emir’s Palace, spending over one hour between the airport and Gaa Odota — the neighborhood next to the airport.
The candidate and the entourage will go pay homage to the Emir and then head to the campaign ground, where thousands of party supporters are waiting for speeches from the candidate and official handing over of flags to the candidates, including Governor AbdulRazaq, who is running for second term on his sterling records of bringing governance closer to the grassroots, strengthening infrastructure, empowering women and young people, and for the first time creating a formal structure to cater for the poor and the vulnerable.