By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
Candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for the 2023 general elections in Kwara State have gone spiritual, gathering prominent Islamic clerics in Ilorin, the state capital, to offer prayers for their success at the poll.
The prayer session was attended by the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the state, Pro. Shuaib AbdulRaheem, the Asiwaju Offa, Alhaji Moshood Shittu and the state Chairman of the party, AbdulRazaq AbdulSalam.
Also in attendant were all the NNPP candidates vying for Senatorial and House of Representatives seats, as well as all the 24 candidates vying for the State’s House of Assembly seats.
The prayer session was led by the Khalifat Al-Adabiyyah, Sheik AbdulKadir Kamaldeen who was assisted by other prominent Islamic clerics in the state .
Kamaldeen prayed for the success of all the NNPP candidates in the state, including the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Musa Kwankwaso.
Speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the prayer session, the NNPP governorship candidate, Prof. Shuaib AbdulRaheem, who expressed confidence that his party would emerge victorious in the 2023 general elections, said the NNPP is poised to take over the mantle of leadership at the national and state levels in 2023.
“Insha Allah, we are doing everything humanly possible to achieve success. We are confident in Allah and when you are confident in Allah, you will achieve success,” he added.
Asked to assess the level of preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 elections, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin praised the Commission for “their impartiality” and introduction of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) in the electoral process, saying “they are doing well”.
Condemning the incessant attacks on INEC facilities across the country, AbdulRaheem admonished the electorate to resist vote buying, describing it as a disease that has to be cured in the nation’s electoral system.
“Vote buying is another disease that we have to cure, but I’m happy that the economic measures introduced by CBN will curtail vote buying. What I want to tell the people is that whoever that can buy them can also sell them”, he said.