Before the Ballot, After the Primaries: The Unifier Kwara APC Needs Now

By Oyez Olatunde Rex

Let’s face it, conversations within the APC in Kwara State are increasingly shaped by heated zoning debates and increasingly bold factional alignments, and the real question before the party is no longer just who can win, but who can hold the party together before and after the fast approaching primaries?

Because history is clear on one point, parties do not lose elections only at the polls, they begin to fracture long before the election day in the way they manage internal differences.

There is however, an emerging phenomenon of the moment in Kwara APC, very few are paying attention to it, but therein lies the way out for the party.

It is a leadership approach that does not inflame divisions, but absorbs and refines them. It is best described as consensus amplification, the ability to draw from existing sentiments from every factions within the party and elevate them into a shared direction.

Across multiple engagements, Prof. Wale Sulaiman has shown a consistent instinct for this kind of politics.

During his courtesy visit to the Kwara APC State Executive led by Prince Sunday Fegbami, his message was neither ambiguous nor opportunistic. He reaffirmed commitment to party supremacy and urged members to consciously manage differences to prevent internal fractures. It was a simple intervention, but one that signaled alignment with structure rather than faction.

At the height of the Ward and LGA Congress period, often a flashpoint for grievances, his response again followed a familiar pattern. He commended the peaceful conduct of the exercise but, more importantly, appealed to aggrieved members to channel complaints through established internal mechanisms. That is not the language of escalation; it is the discipline of institutional loyalty.

The same thread runs through his grassroots engagements. In ward-level consultations, including Ajase-Ipo Ward I, his emphasis remained on unity, inclusiveness, and collaboration, not as slogans, but as operational necessities for electoral success. This is where consensus amplification becomes practical. Identifying shared interests at the base and reinforcing them as common ground.

His consultations have not been limited to the grassroots. In meetings with the APC Kwara South Elders Caucus, he stressed collective responsibility and unity of purpose ahead of 2027. Here again, the pattern holds, different audience, same message architecture. This bring stakeholders into alignment without erasing their differences and identities.

Even at the national level, during the 2026 APC National Convention in Abuja, his engagements reflected a deliberate positioning, not outside the party structure, but firmly within it, deliberate interactions and engagements across all geographical and perceived divides. In a period when parallel loyalties often weaken party cohesion, that sort of alignment matters.

Perhaps most telling, however, is the consistency of his public messaging. Across multiple statements and interactions, he has repeatedly called on aspirants and party faithful to prioritize unity over personal ambition as the primaries approach. In a competitive season, that is not the easiest message to sustain, yet it is the most necessary message needed to hold the center together in the party.

Taken together, these are not isolated gestures. They form a pattern, a politician who does not merely speak about unity when convenient, but returns to it as a governing principle.

This is where the conversation about acceptability becomes more grounded.

In a party as layered as the APC in Kwara which cut across senatorial zones, interest blocs, and evolving loyalties; the most viable candidate is not always the loudest or the most aggressive. It is the one who can command trust across factions without deepening their divides.

A candidate acceptable to Kwara South, but not rejected in Kwara Central and not hated in Kwara North.
A figure that resonates with the grassroots, yet retains the confidence of party elders.
An aspirant whose emergence does not leave lasting fractures after the primaries.

That is the strategic value of the bridge builder. And as the party moves closer to its primary elections, the decision before stakeholders is not just about zoning arithmetic or momentary advantage. It is about sustainability, what happens after a candidate emerges.

Will the party close ranks, or carry silent resentments into the general election?

Therefore, the needed leadership is not defined by how well he competes, but by how well he can hold the centre after emerging.

And increasingly, the case being made quietly but steadily, is that Prof. Wale Sulaiman’s politics of consensus amplification may be less dramatic, but more durable for exactly this reason.

Because in the end, the strongest candidate is not just the one who can win a primary, but the one everyone can stand with when it is over.