The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday stormed Ilorin metropolis with Obi-Kwankwaso campaign messages in a major mobilisation that stretched over nine kilometres in the state capital.

The procession, tagged: “one million-man march,” began from Offa Garage through the Post Office to Lower and Upper Taiwo Road.

The procession, however, made a detour at the General Hospital, through Surulere to the Emir’s Palace and Oja Oba area.

The mobilisation was attended by several NDC candidates, including Abdulrasheed Sulaiman Omoda, the party’s Kwara Central senatorial candidate, and Hon. Dr. Thomas Audu Gana, its Kwara North senatorial candidate.

Speaking on the purpose of the rally, the state NDC Chairman, Abdulsalami Abdulganiyu, said it was necessary to demonstrate the party’s presence and take its message directly to the electorate.

“Selling Peter Obi and Kwankwaso is the easiest thing to do here considering that Obi had quite an impressive show in 2023, electorally speaking,” Abdulganiyu said.

According to him, Obi had previously provided the NDC with an electoral base upon which it could build as it takes the new political platform into the 2027 contest.

“People know what Obi can do. With Kwankwaso, I can assure you that we have the winning formula as you can see from the way people have received our rally on the street,” he said.

Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the Labour Party (LP) platform, secured 31,166 votes in Kwara.

A significant portion of that support came from the Ilorin metropolitan area. Obi polled 15,598 votes in Ilorin West and 7,274 in Ilorin South, giving him a combined 22,872 votes from the two LGAs.

The figures provide a measurable baseline for the NDC as it seeks to build on Obi’s established urban presence in Ilorin and extend the appeal of the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket beyond the support recorded by Obi under the Labour Party platform in 2023.

The NDC subsequently affirmed Obi as its presidential candidate and Kwankwaso as his running mate for the 2027 election.

For Omoda, the party’s emergence in Kwara comes against the backdrop of what he described as widespread economic hardship.

“Kwara’s multidimensional poverty is at 63 per cent,” he said, adding that “NDC is here on a rescue mission.”

The National Bureau of Statistics’ multidimensional poverty report, however, puts the rate at 69.1 per cent in Kwara Central, 74.2 per cent in Kwara North and 72.6 per cent in Kwara South, making Omoda’s 63 per cent figure unsuitable as the statewide rate.

Gana, who is seeking to represent Kwara North in the Senate, said the party had made considerable progress in establishing grassroots structures in the district.

He said voters in the zone were increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of the current administration.

“My people have seen that the ruling party is doing a poor job of governing,” Gana said.

Also speaking, Namo Phillip of Diaspora for Good Governance (DGG) said the time had come for Nigerians to put the country’s interest ahead of other considerations.

Saturday’s procession offered the NDC an opportunity to take the Obi-Kwankwaso message beyond conventional political gatherings and into the commercial and residential heart of Ilorin.

For the party, however, the more consequential task will be sustaining the momentum generated by the mobilisation and converting the visibility of the march into an organised grassroots presence ahead of the 2027 election. (The Guardian)

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