The Okun Frontline Leaders, a socio-political group consisting of renown intellectuals and ace entrepreneurs, has called on All Progressive Congress (APC) delegates to vote for an aspirant of outstanding competence and experience who is accessible and totally loyal to the party rather than considering zoning in the forthcoming Kogi West senate party primaries.
In a press statement made available to newsmen in Lokoja on Friday and signed by its publicity secretary, Dr Johnson Eseyin Ojo, the group said zoning must not be a yardstick for electing the next senator and called on the ruling party not to make mistake of electing a senator who is not accessible and who will be working against the interests of the party in future.
The group said there was no time in the history of Kogi West that a zoning arrangement was made, adding that at every given election, aspirants from all the three federal constituencies that make up the district always come to contest and the most acceptable aspirant always emerged as winner.
“Okun people, noted for their intellectual prowess, native intelligence and administrative capabilities, should not settle less to elect a neophyte and a hollow-head who constitute to be a nuisance at the red chamber.
“During a meeting in the late Dr Stephen Olorunfemi’s house in 2006 (who was then the political leader), zoning arrangement was discussed but all the leaders from Yagba axis vehemently opposed zoning insisting that every aspirant must go and test their popularity on the field.
“It is now a surprise why some selfish people are now talking about zoning. Yagba federal constituency alone has so far produced three senators including Chief Justus Olu from Egbe, Chief Sunday Awoniyi from Mopa and the current senator, Sunday Karimi also from Egbe,” the group argued.
Okun Frontline Leaders, which said it has discreetly undertaken a comprehensive background checks on all the aspirants that have so far collected the Senate nomination forms, said some of them have fallen grossly below being considered to be voted for due to their appalling background.
According to the statement, one of the strongest contenders to the senate seat is said to be romancing with a money bag who is allegedly said to be financing the opposition party against the re-election bid of President Bola Tinubu.
“The said moneybag, who is to offset the electoral expenses of the aspirant, is said to have also positioned the aspirant in the All Progressive Congress to destroy the party in the state.
“The frontline aspirant who is ‘broke’ and currently financially miserable has been running helter-skelter within the circle of Kogi state government officials pretending to be a party loyalist while his hidden agenda is to cause crisis in order for the opposition to have their in road to the state.
“Such unstable character if elected can not be trusted and he is still consistently bereft of ideas on how to move the senatorial district forward and should therefore not be entrusted with the position of a senator as this is obviously an over sized shoe to his tiny legs.
“As for Senator Sunday Karimi, he is so far the worst senator the Kogi west district has ever produced having performed abysmally lower than those who represented us at the Senate. It is surprising that we have a senator who can not be reached, he is not accessible and always a run-away senator even when the constituents have serious problem, he cannot be reached. He is the only senator in the zone who has no constituency office.
“It is therefore little wonder that all the stakeholders, including market women and youths, recently denounce his style of leadership and passed a vote of no confidence on him.
“Karimi has in the last three years in the senate abandoned his constituents and has refused to open the mandatory constituency office in Kabba, the senatorial headquarters nor open any office any where in the district, neither did he do anything worthwhile to justify his three years state in the senate and should therefore be voted out,” the group said.
The Okun Frontline Leaders, while commending Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo and former Governor Yahaya Bello, whom it described as the pillar of APC in the state, advised both leaders to only support an aspirant that is most competent and loyal to the party and should not listen to some individuals’ sentiments.
“We, therefore, call on the delegates to vote for a man of impeccable integrity, radiating foresight, unmatched experience who is bold and vocal and who can be regarded as the voice of the voiceless. Merit and virtue should not be sacrificed at the altar of zoning” the statement added.
