Despite the intrigues that preceded the Kogi State All Progressives Congress governorship primary election, a former governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, emerged as the party’s flag bearer and this has brought a new dimension to the November election. Atabor Julius writes
Political history in the contemporary times is replete with surprises that have continued to take root in the country and one of such was when former Kogi State governor, Alhaji Abubakar Audu won the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election conducted on August 28.
The first politician in this dispensation whose resilience and never say die attitude gave the desired result is President Muhammudu Buhari; just as one of the American greats, President Abraham Lincon. He came from three previous electoral defeats to win the March 28, 2015 presidential election.
Buhari who contested the 2003, 2007 and 2011 declined the offer before he was pressured to contest against the then incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was defeated to set tone for the ‘change’ revolution.
Audu achieved a feat similar to Buhari’sfeat when he contended with other very determined aspirants, and particularly the articulated clamour for the APC ticket by the West and Central senatorial districts, by winning the party ticket to contest against incumbent Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party.
It was indeed a very competitive election because during the build up to the primary, tempers were very high. Audu was a victim of negative projections; most of the aspirants from the Eastern zone where he came from, particularly the likes of Dr. Alex Kadri, Yahaya Ugbane and James Ocholi (SAN), were vehemently against his interest in the party ticket. They argued that he should stay back as the leader of the party instead. So, they waged relentless media war against him in order to dissuade the delegates from voting for him.
While Audu was receiving bashing from his kinsmen from the East, the combined forces of the West and Central zones introduced the subsisting power shift agenda, which would automatically edge him out of the race if it succeeded.
There was coalition of West and Central Unity and Equity Forum, which comprise politicians from the two regions that were yet to produce a governor since the state was created and who agreed to work for a consensus candidate to wrestle power from the Igala dominated Eastern zone that has dominated the political firmament of the state since its birth.
Although the coalition started strong and showed capability to stop Audu from clinching the party ticket, but as noble as the idea was, it became problematic at the implementation stage. So, the novel idea resulted into endorsements and counter endorsements, creating bad blood between the two federating zones and putting the concept into jeopardy.
Rather than align themselves to one candidate as proposed by the coalition, against the wishes of the proponent of power shift, the 14 aspirants from the West refused to step down for each other.
The same scenario played up among the aspirants in the East. Also, the idea that the 14 of them step down for one of the aspirants met a brick wall. So, Audu went into the ring with his compatriots and he was full of enthusiasm and confidence that he would be victorious.
When the primary eventually held, the ‘Prince of the Niger,’ as Audu is also known, did not hesitate to steal the show at the new Lokoja Township Stadium venue of the primary election. He breezed in when all the 26 aspirants were already seated and was received with a thunderous ovation by the delegates and officials. It signified that he is a notable leader of the party and that he is still in charge.
Paradoxically, despite all the agitation against his candidature by aspirants from the West, Central and the East – all those who constituted themselves into a protest group against Audu on the basis of old age were roundly defeated.
A mild drama ensued immediately the sorting of votes commenced, the likes of Kadiri, Ugbane and Atawodi who were stiffly against the move that other aspirants from the East should step down for Audu left the venue when it was becoming obvious that the former governor was having the upper hand.
The main campaign against the Audu candidacy was that he is too old and as such should take the leadership seat in the party. But when reacting to the barrage of campaigns against his candidacy on the basis of age, Audu said: “I thank God that all what my detractors were saying against me has no colouration of corruption and ineptitude.
“I can say with certainty that my era as the governor of the state was a bumper harvest of projects. At my age, I am as at alert mentally as I was when I was in my twenties. I have the magic wand to fix the state, even with the so called dwindling federation account,” he said assuredly.
In his acceptance speech, Audu averred that with the credible and transparent primary, the APC is now set to take control of the state and rescue it from rot.
He commended his closest opponent in the election, AlhajiYahaya Bello; for his performance against odds, describing it as a “testimony to his wide acceptance by his people.”
Audu assured the people of the state that if elected in the November 21 election he will work assiduous to ensure that he hands over power to the Central zone, noting that he has found “a trusted and efficient son in Bello.”
On the burning issue of power shift, the former governor vowed that he is the only candidate that can permanently address the power shift imbroglio, urging voters from the two aggrieved ones in the state to give him the needed support to return as governor of the state as a rescue mission.
An observable trend in the pattern of voting in the APC primary was that while the Ebira of the Central gave maximum votes to their sons, the Okuns of the West were busy merchandising their delegates for the highest bidders as all the eight aspirants from the zone were unable to score up to 100 out of the accredited 3044 delegates. Analysts have attributed such trend to why the Okun people have been unable to organise themselves for power shift.
The trio of Senator NurudeenAbatemi, Sanusi Abubakar and Bello, who are from the Central senatorial district, gave good accounts of their zone. Their delegates gave all their votes to them to win the second, third and fourth slots in an election that many agreed was transparently conducted by a no nonsense governor of Kaduna State, MallamNasir El- Rufai.
Bello, fondly called ‘Fairplus,’ is a former accountant with Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC). He scored 703 votes out of 3044 to show that he is a politician with a strong base and capable of making significant impact in future elections.
Now, with the party primary come and gone, the main task before Audu and his party now is to try to wrestle power from the ruling PDP, which has been in power since 2003 and which would have its primary on September 10.
Audu has been expressing confidence that with new innovations that are making elections more credible in Nigeria, he would defeat the PDP-led government in Kogi State. He recently noted that he has never been defeated by the PDP, but that he was allegedly robbed of his electoral victories by the PDP government.
He added that his continued struggle to wrestle power from the PDP was borne out of his love for the state which he christened ‘his baby,’ which he alleged to have been ruptured by the “misadministration of the successive PDP governments.”
Audu who is reputed to have contested all the governorship elections since the creation of the state 24 years ago is set to return to the coveted Lugard House which he vacated in 2003.
Interestingly, after his inglorious defeats of 2003, which he tagged as “joint task force” against him by the then PDP controlled centre, Audu had contested all the governorship elections but without success.
