Deputy Senate majority leader Ashiru declares for Kwara governorship race
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Oyelola Ashiru, on Thursday, declared his intention to contest the Kwara State governorship seat ahead of the 2027 general elections. Ashiru made the announcement in Ilorin,
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Oyelola Ashiru, on Thursday, declared his intention to contest the Kwara State governorship seat ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Ashiru made the announcement in Ilorin, the state capital, stating that he would seek the office on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
His entry into the race comes weeks after another serving senator from Kwara North, Sadiq Suleiman Umar, signaled interest in the governorship, also under the APC.
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Representing Kwara South in the Senate, Ashiru used the occasion to unveil his development agenda, titled “Covenant with Kwara.”
The architect-turned politician described the document as a blueprint for inclusive governance, shared prosperity and generational renewal.
He explained that the covenant is built on seven pillars, noting that security is not listed as one of them because it underpins the entire framework.
“Security is not a policy pillar in this document. It is the foundation upon which every other aspect of the plan rests,” he said.
He said, "I am asking for the mandate to govern Kwara state from 2027 to 2031. Not manage it. Not to preside over it. To transform it-- deliberately, systematically, and with every Kwaran able to see, in real time, whether I am keeping my word.
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"The quality of your life-- the school your child attends, the clinic that serves your family, the road that connects your farm to a market, the peace in your community and the dignity of your old age-- will determine the priorities of this government, not the other way round."
He hailed both President Bola Tinubu and Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for their transformative governance.
"Governor AbdulRazaq has transformed the infrastructure and fiscal discipline if this state in ways that give the next administration a genuinely different platform to work from.
"President Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda has unlocked Federal Capital and constitutional reforms-- on electricity, on railways, on state policing- that create opportunities no previous Kwara governor has had," he added.
On the current security challenges in the state, the senator said that "the harmony of the state is now under threat.
"Armed groups have entered our rural communities not to settle or trade but to terrorize-- burning farms, displacing families, and breaking the agricultural rhythm that has sustained Kwara for centuries."
Earlier, the Local Organizing Chair of the occasion, Ben Duntoye, said the APC administration at both the Federal and state levels had engendered good governance.
