In politics, the soil remembers who tilled it.
And in Kwara South, the name that keeps coming up is Prince Saheed Olamilekan Popoola.
His recent emergence as the consensus candidate of the PDP for the Kwara South Senatorial District did not fall from the sky. It is the payoff of a long, bruising journey — a journey of battles fought, victories won, and loyalty tested. It is the story of a man the people call Ifokanbale: one who is close to the people, and who has never pretended to be anything else.
2010: The First Crack in the Wall
By 2010, Kwara politics revolved around one name: Saraki. To challenge that structure was to invite trouble because of the impacts the name has on the lives of Kwarans. Popoola did it anyway.
Running under the then Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, he contested the Offa Local Government chairmanship against the PDP, the party then firmly under the control of the late Dr. Olusola Saraki.l, while Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki held sway as the governor of Kwara State.
The first election was disputed in 2010. The court ordered a rerun. On January 13, 2011, KWASIEC, led by Alhaji Bashiru Oni, announced the result: Popoola 8,926 votes. Segun Olanipekun of the PDP, 3,752 votes.
It was more than a local election. It was an upset. With the full weight of the Saraki machinery behind his opponent, Popoola, the underdog, won. In February 2011 he was sworn in as Chairman of Offa LGA.
For two years he governed with his feet on the ground. Roads, youth engagement, and direct access to the people marked his tenure. When all LG chairmen exited office in 2012, Popoola left behind a record and a reputation: the grassroots man who beat the system.
2013: Birth of a New Party, Birth of a New Symbol
The political fight resumed in 2013. The Abdulfatah Ahmed administration organized another round of LG elections. The people of Offa insisted: Popoola should run again.
He answered the call, this time under a brand-new banner — the All Progressives Congress, APC. In doing so, he made history as the first Nigerian to contest an elective office on the APC platform. That alone earned him national headlines.
The election was messy. When the votes were counted, Dr. Uthman Ajidagba’s KWASIEC declared Segun Olanipekun of the PDP winner — the same man Popoola had beaten twice. To many in Offa and beyond, it was daylight rigging.
But political persecution has a way of expanding a man’s shadow. Popoola did not go to court. The national leadership of the APC, still managing a fragile merger with blocs breaking away from the PDP, persuaded him to sheath his sword for the bigger war, to him, he has no personal issue with the Saraki Dynasty, it’s all about politics and differences at that time, he agreed to worked with its leadership.
The cost to him became his currency. He became the face of the APC in Kwara. He became the symbol of resistance to a dynasty that had lasted decades. From Offa, his name traveled to Abuja.
2014–2015: From the Streets to the Chamber
In 2014, as a form of compensation for 2013, Popoola was appointed Commissioner for Youth and Sports. He used the office to do what he knew best: build people. Grassroots sports were revived. Youth programs were expanded. The ministry felt his energy.
In 2015 he tested the ballot again. Running for Ojomu/Balogun State Constituency under the APC, he won in a landslide. This was at a time when even the state’s political leader, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had moved into the APC. Popoola’s victory proved he could win with or without the big tent — as long as the people were with him.
2018: The One Who Stayed
The House of Assembly revealed another side of him. He was no longer just the grassroots administrator. He was a legislator.
In the 8th Assembly, under Speaker Prof. Ali Ahmad, Popoola earned a reputation as the “starboy” — articulate, combative when he had to be, and focused on development. He spoke for Ojomu/Balogun, but he also spoke for Kwara.
Then came 2018. The political earthquake. Senate President Bukola Saraki pulled the plug and moved to collapse the entire Kwara APC structure back into the PDP.
The pressure on APC lawmakers was enormous. Defect or be isolated.
Popoola refused.
He stayed.
While others crossed over, he remained the only elected office holder in Kwara who stood his ground in the APC. In a season of mass movement, his decision to stay marked him. It told a story of conviction over convenience.
That stand is why, years later, many still refer to him as the Otoge Crusader— one of the first men who believe Kwara’s new direction, who believe a new Kwara is possible, it’s all an out conviction.
To be continued
