In Defense of Senator Saliu Mustapha: The Wisdom of Calm in a Season of Brouhaha

By Abdullateef Ishowo

Across Kwara, and increasingly beyond it, one question persists: Why has Senator Saliu Mustapha, Kwara Central, remained measured, deliberate, and unprovoked in the face of open confrontation and calculated undermining by his own party leader in the state?

Let this be explicitly stated, restraint is not weakness and silence is not surrender. The affable senator has refused personal attacks, media wars, and conduct that would fracture the APC. That is strategy, not timidity. A tiger does not roar at every provocation; it advances with intent. Power under control is power affirmed.

What is at stake is victory, not theatre. The opposition’s greatest advantage is a public feud between two APC leaders. By declining the bait, Senator Mustapha denies adversaries the narrative of a divided house. The lesson of 2019 is instructive and final: Kwara rewarded unity and rejected division.

By conviction, he listens more than he speaks, and he guards that discipline. Wisdom is forged in listening. Leaders who hear before they speak rarely mislead. There is a time for silence, a time for counsel, a time for speech, and a time for action. He knows the difference, and he will not confuse them.

To those urging him to fight and burn the party down: To what end? Had he elevated personal ambition above party unity and public peace, the same voices would accuse him of clearing the path for the opposition. Furthermore, as the Turaki Ngeri of Ilorin, he bears a sacred charge to be an ambassador of peace at all times.

For months, your voices have carried on the morning airwaves. He has felt the heat of the youth and the steadiness of the elders. Your message is unambiguous: impatience with drift, hunger for peace, and demand for a Kwara that works. Your grievances are legitimate. Your expectations are just. As one of you, he stands with you, shoulder to shoulder, unflinching.

Kwara is not an estate of any individual. From Baruten to Ekiti, Offa to Patigi and to the heart of the Central, Kwara belongs to all of us. Our diversity is not a fault line; it is our foundation.

He has asked, repeatedly, what his offense is. The silence in response is telling, because there is none. He remains the most formidable and electable, with a network that cuts across ethnic, religious, and party lines. If that is the offense, he owes no apology.

“Political parties are instruments, not idols. APC brought us this far; Kwara is the destination. To demolish the house because one room leaks is folly. To live under a leaking roof is cowardice. We will repair the roof. We will not raze the home”. He had said to me repeatedly.

In my engagements with him, it is evident: he does not seek office for personal gain. He seeks to serve, to redefine governance, and to clothe it with a human face. If certain forces are determined to block him at all costs, then more is at work than meets the eye. He will not retreat. He will stand firm and contend, with diligence, to the end.

O To Ge was never a moment. It was a movement; power belongs to the people. The people rose once. They can rise again, not with stones, but with ballots; not with rage, but with vigilance; not with chaos, but with vision.

“We will not discard the child with the bathwater. We will refine our purpose, recalibrate our leadership, and reclaim our destiny”. He had affirmed.

“The resurgence of the opposition and APC’s introspection confirm one truth: Kwarans are awake. An awakened people cannot be lulled to sleep. Yet let our eyes stay open even when brimming. Let us not, in the heat of justified anger, make choices we will regret in the cool of reason. Let ‘Omoluabi’ define leaders and led alike.” He recently stated.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda is set to reverse decades of decay. Let’s meet that resolve with prayer and steadfastness. In Kwara Central, the senator has matched words with works: expansive scholarships to free minds; tractors and implements for farmers; roads and classrooms for access; solar installations and transformers for light; SME support to ignite enterprise. The security challenges we face are national in scale, but not beyond us. We will meet them, together.

Senator Mustapha’s door is open to all. No party label, no ethnic line, no creed can bar access to your Senator. Argue ideas, not insults. Compete in service, not slander. Pray for Kwara. Do not curse her. Division is a snare. The road ahead demands steel, not sentiment; resolve, not rancour.

With the unflinching guide of Allah and the consistent support from you all, Senator Saliu Mustapha remains unbroken, unbowed, and unwavering in service to you, and to the sacred cause of humanity.

Abdullateef Ishowo is the Director of Media and Strategic Communication to Senator Saliu Mustapha, representing Kwara Central.