Saliu Mustapha said that though he was against the political camp of the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, he supports the re-election bid of President Bola Tinubu.
Senator Saliu Mustapha, representing Kwara Central Senatorial District, has insisted his defection from the ruling APC to the PDP is not a rejection of President Bola Tinubu, framing it strictly as a break from Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s political camp.
Mustapha made the declaration on Channels Television on Friday night while explaining his defection and the wider political realignment involving aggrieved APC stakeholders in Kwara.
He said his move was part of a “rainbow coalition” that considered several political platforms before settling on the PDP as the most suitable vehicle for their arrangement, and stressed the decision should not be read as turning his back on Tinubu.
Asked what would happen if the governor beats him in the senatorial race, Mustapha was defiant: “I would have won that election 12 o’clock before 1 o’clock, In Sha Allah.
It will be one election Nigerians would be waiting to see the results.”
Mustapha’s exit from the APC came after weeks of turmoil within the party’s Kwara chapter.
In his resignation letter, dated August 14, 2026 and addressed to the APC Ward Chairman for Gambari Ward 1 in Ilorin East Local Government Area, Mustapha said the party leadership in the state had “departed from the founding core principles of collective unity and internal democracy on which the APC was built.”
He wrote: “This is not a decision I have taken lightly.
It follows weeks of extensive consultations and engagements with relevant stakeholders, my supporters, constituents across Kwara Central Senatorial District, and well-meaning Kwarans.”
Even in resigning, he took care to separate his grievance with the state party from his standing with the president, thanking “the leadership of the APC, ably led by H.E. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR,” for the relationships and experiences gained over the years, and assured constituents that “while my political platform may change, my principles, my purpose and my commitment to the people remain unchanged.”
The crisis traces back to a disputed APC governorship primary that produced Kwara State House of Assembly Speaker Yakubu Danladi-Salihu as the party’s candidate for 2027, a choice that reportedly triggered rejection from about ten aspiring governorship contenders who accused the AbdulRazaq camp of imposing him. Mustapha, who had himself contested for the APC governorship ticket, was left out when the party instead handed it to a candidate from the state’s northern senatorial district.
He was part of the G15, a bloc of aggrieved APC stakeholders — including Deputy Senate Leader Lola Ashiru and Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe — who publicly rejected the outcome of the primaries and pushed for Tinubu and the national APC leadership to intervene.
At one Ilorin protest, Mustapha had appealed directly to the president: “We are protesting because we are not happy with the way the party’s leadership handled the process that produced the candidates.
We are not against anyone, but the process lacked fairness and inclusiveness.”
His shift caught many off guard given his history with the party.
As recently as January 2025, Mustapha had dismissed speculation about a possible defection, describing himself as a “staunch and loyal” APC member and pointing to his role signing the 2013 merger agreement that formed the party.
That loyalty gave way within hours of his resignation on Friday: the PDP’s Kwara State Chairman, Issa Bawa, formally presented him with the party’s Kwara Central senatorial nomination form the same day, positioning him to challenge Governor AbdulRazaq — who is contesting the same seat on the APC platform — in the 2027 election.
The swift transition set off scrambling within PDP ranks.
The party’s earlier Kwara Central candidate, Yinka Otukoko, had signalled in a WhatsApp post that his ticket was available “for either Saliu Mustapha of G15 or Mashood Mustapha,” a message the state PDP later moved to distance itself from, with Publicity Secretary Olusegun Adewara claiming Otukoko’s account had been compromised.
Reports also pointed to a meeting between Mustapha and former Senate President Bukola Saraki at Ilorin International Airport, feeding speculation about a broader alliance between Saraki’s political network, the G15 bloc, and Tinubu-aligned interests in Abuja — a coalition that could set up one of Kwara’s most consequential political battles heading into 2027.
