The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has lost the Kwara Central Senatorial District election to Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Oloriegbe polled a total of 123,808 votes to defeat Senator Saraki of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 68,994 votes.
Oloriegbe, was a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) when he ran against Saraki in 2011.
In his campaign bio-sketch, Oloriegbe believed he was robbed by the court, against ‘the wishes of many Kwarans”.
After the loss, he remains one of the few men standing against the reign and style of Saraki regime in Kwara.
He was the majority leader at the Kwara State House of Assembly between 1999 – 2003.
Oloriegbe was born in Ilorin by parents with Ilorin pedigree, an important factor that underlined the campaign in the state.
He attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he studied medicine and has had a wide practice both locally and internationally.
As Senator-elect, he has promised to make a difference in his senatorial district:
“In the past 15 years, our society has been in the grip of people who do not share our common values and heritage. They are dealers whose concerns are at variance with the people’s aspirations. They are leaders with inordinate appetite for wealth acquisition. They are political voyagers and power merchants. They don’t share our Islamic values and culture of leadership being a trust that will be accounted for to Allah the Creator of the universe. Hence they cannot give what they don’t have
“What is the alternative? Ilorin people need one of them. They deserve a leader who has deep and good understanding of the Islamic culture and its value system, which defines us as a people. Ilorin Emirate deserves a leader who can combine vast international exposure with deep knowledge of our cherished self-identity as we collectively strive for solutions to our numerous challenges. Such a leader should be accessible to the young, the old and all strata of the community. He should be selfless, truthful, humble and facilitative”.