Kwara: Group kicks against zoning of 2027 Governorship race, insists on competency
KEHINDE EMMANUEL ,ILORIN
The Kwara Integrity Movement (KIM) has kicked against zoning a Head of the 2027 Governorship race in the state to a senatorial district.
Chairman, KIM Alh. Ibrahim Oniwara in a news conference on Tuesday in Ilorin said it was high time for Kwara to rise above the limitations of primordial politics, but uphold competency and merit.
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He said Kwara must reject the outdated philosophy that leadership should be determined by birth place rather than competence; leadership must emerge from merit, vision, capacity and character.
Alh. Oniwara said the news conference was not out of sentiment or sectional bias, but out of a deep commitment to truth, equity and the long term well-being of the people.
”The agitation for zoning raises fundamental questions that Kwara residents must ask boldly: for whom is the zoning agitation being championed?
”Is zoning being presented as compensation or entitlement? Is it genuinely for the people of Kwara North or for the personal ambition of a few?
”Leadership is not inherited, power is not donated or served a la carte, it is earned through persuasion, credibility and service,”he said.
KIM chairman however noted that the narrative that Kwara has ever practiced zoning is false and the state’s democratic experience showed an open, inclusive and competitive political field where all senatoral districts contest.
”We are not advancing entitlement politics, not calling for automatic rotation and not demanding exclusive rights for any zone.
”Our position is simple, principled and patriotic, and Kwara deserves the best candidate regardless of senatorial district.
”Let every disqualified person contest and let the people decide their leader,” he said.
The KIM chairman further decried the coercion of traditional rulers into partisan politics.
He said the highly revered Emirs and Obas travelling across the state for political lobby and advocacy should be totally avoided as they are highly revered institutions that must be insulated from partisan politics.
Chairman KIM is a group of like minds Kwarans cutting across the three senatorial districts
(Democracy Newsline Newspaper, December 10th 2025)
