Sardauna’s Legacy Under Threat

Last week, Kwara State governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was turbaned as the Sardauna of Ilorin Emirate in a ceremony witnessed by party bigwigs, including Vice President Kashim Shettima. The ceremony came just a day after APC governors cried for help against what they perceived as a threat to their hold on state politics. The Sardauna title is meant to cement Abdulrazaq's place as an enduring political leader in the state, and to claim the position, he had to topple a decades-long political dynasty led by Bukola Saraki, a one-time President of the Nigerian Senate, two-term governor of Kwara, and a 2019 presidential candidate of the PDP. The question now is whether the governor's claim to the title of Sardauna is premature, given that it comes during an election period when Saraki is looking to make a comeback and just as forces within the opposition PDP are realigning.

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