TheCable

Bolaji Abdullahi, former minister of sports and youth development, has been selected as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consensus candidate for Kwara central senatorial district.

Abdullahi was said to have been chosen as the consensus candidate on Saturday after PDP aspirants in the district voluntarily withdrew from the race.

He was said to have submitted his nomination and expression of interest forms for the senatorial seat at the party’s national secretariat on Friday.

TheCable had earlier reported that Abdullahi was on course to be the consensus senatorial candidate for Kwara central in the 2023 general election.

The ticket for Kwara central was micro-zoned to Ilorin west LGA, where Abdullahi hails from.

Insiders had told TheCable that former Senate President Bukola Saraki and PDP leaders from Kwara central agreed to zone the senatorial ticket to Ilorin west, one of the four LGAs within the senatorial district, because of its large population and voting strength.

Abdullahi, the only notable candidate to have expressed interest, had said he is running for the seat because 2023 is an opportunity for Nigeria to “hit the reset button”.

According to him, citizens can no longer afford the luxury of “incompetence and empty showmanship”.

“When I am elected senator, I would be bringing to the legislative chamber of our country a wide range of experience as a journalist, a civil society activist, development specialist, a public servant and a party man,” he had said.

The former minister currently runs the Bolaji Abdullahi mentorship programme which is targeted at empowering Nigerian youths.