Kwara Central senatorial candidate of All Progressives Congress for the 2019 election, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, has debunked insinuations in some quarters that his nomination was induced by a prominent Lagos politician as a ploy to turn Ilorin emirate to servitude.

Oloriegbe was a majority leader in Kwara state Assembly during the administration of late governor Muhammed Lawal.

The position is currently being occupied by the senate president and national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Bukola Saraki.

Oloriegbe, spoke in Ilorin on Saturday at an interactive forum organised for political parties and candidates in the 2019 general elections by Ilorin Anchors, a non-political association.

The medical doctor alleged that those behind the insinuation were acting a script to smear his image as part of their campaigns of calumny.

He said that Ilorin, reputed for its sophistication among contemporaries, would neither play second fiddle nor be subservient to any state or politician.

He said those behind the rumour mill were out to cause disaffection within the emirate through which they could feather their nest.

Oloriegbe told the gathering that his sojourn in politics and intent to represent Kwara Central at the National Assembly was borne out of the desire to serve the people and not for personal aggrandizement.

He said his resolve to contest was also stimulated by the current situation of the Ilorin emirate, declaring: “What I see in Ilorin today is a tower that has lost its values”.

Oloriegbe added that it was disheartening seeing youth going into drugs, the practice, which he pointed out was alien to the city’s culture and tradition.

The APC candidate said the ancient town needed change in leadership if some of the challenges confronting it were to be addressed.

“I left my comfort zone for discomfort zone. This is a discomfort because I worked for an international organization and I was being paid like an expatriate.

“I don’t have money for politics but what I have is goodwill, and goodwill is more than money. By contesting senatorial as candidate between 201, 2015 and now, it is based on that goodwill. It is the
people that believe in me that have kept me going.

“When I said mobilise, it is about us telling our people because several of our people are not privileged like us. Let us support the change that we are clamouring for.

“Our opponents are all out now on campaign of calumny. They said you want to take us to Lagos, and that an Ilorin will not be a servant of slavery to Lagos. I stand here to say that I’m not sponsored, I’m not
nominated by any Lagosian in particular”, Oloriegbe said.