The upcoming November, 2019 governorship election in Kogi State has triggered a flurry of political activities with numerous individuals jostling for the coveted seat of the Executive Governor of Kogi State.
Expectedly, it has been a motley collection of the good, the bad and the ugly. As for the ruling party in the State; All Progressives Congress (APC), the vexed issue is about the mode of primary election to adopt for the emergence of the party’s flag bearer in the coming election.
The victory of APC in 2015 and the events thereafter are still fresh in our memories but it will be the height of delusion for any sincere party faithful of our great party to assume the success achieved then can be replicated in the next election if a level playing field is not availed all aspirants for a free, fair and credible process that will be acceptable to all irrespective of the outcome.
To proclaim all is well with APC in the State is deceitful and playing the ostrich which might have unpalatable consequences for the party in the coming election.
Despite the numbers of aspirants who have indicated the desire to contest, the leadership of our party should ignore any position expressed by online poster aspirants on which mode of election to adopt for the primaries.
Sadly, our State has been turned to a Confluence of Absurd Comedies wherein confused individuals who for lucre will be recruited and robed as aspirants just to misdirect the national leadership in order to ensure their indirect primary preference is foisted on loyal party members.
Why is that it is only the appointees cronies and apologists of Alhaji Yahaya Bello that are strenuously pushing for the indirect primaries? This is despite the crisis that has engulfed the party after the death of late Prince Abubakar Audu and inauguration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
The reality of the situation in Kogi State as it concerns our great party, is that all is not well and every hand must be on deck to ensure victory for our great party in the State.
If truly the last three and a half years have improved the lot of Kogites, every willing, loyal and registered member of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State must be given the opportunity to decide with their votes who will bear the flag of our great party in the November, 2019 election.
We wish to remind the leadership of our great party about the cases in court and the negative impact it might have on the fortunes of our great party if the status quo remains.
As loyal party members, we sincerely believe it will be suicidal politically if lessons are not learnt and imbibed from the unfortunate but avoidable scenarios that played out in Zamfara and Rivers States in which greed, ego and self-centeredness of certain individuals made our party lose.
The Oyo and Bauchi situations have revealed the possible outcomes of imposing and foisting of unpopular candidates whose performance is not worthy of being rewarded with another term on committed party members in the state. The situation in Kogi State within the party and among the majority of the people is a sordid combination of those in the States aforementioned.
In view of the peculiar mess the indiscretions of certain individuals have placed our great party, APC in Kogi State, all hands must be on deck to ensure victory for our party in the State. No personal or group aspiration must be allowed to humiliate our party in the coming election.
In view of the fact that Alhaji Yahaya Bello had proclaimed his readiness for either Indirect or Direct primaries, we urge the National leadership of our great party to revisit and reverse its earlier pronouncement on the adoption of the indirect option for the party’s primaries in August, 2019.
We are firmly convinced that, Direct primaries will enable the level playing field majority of aspirants have been clamoring for. Indirect primary will confer unmerited advantage on some aspirants which will reduce the process into an unfair, restricted and compromised contest. The consequences of indirect primary election for our great party will be dire which makes our call for direct primary election imperative.
We are not oblivious of the mischievous misrepresentation that informed the initial indirect primary option announced by the National Working Committee of our great party but we hope and expect reason will be permitted to prevail now that the true state of affairs have been revealed.
Our belief in the capacity of our great party to truly change the fortunes of our people for good remains unwavering despite the glaring demarketing the present inept leadership in Kogi State has done our party in the State. It is however doubtful if this conviction will be sustained by the majority of our party members and the electorate, if the process that will produce our party’s candidate for the November, 2019 governorship is not transparent, free, fair and credible.
Signed:
Tijani Abdullahi
For: Kogi State Stakeholders Forum
