When the ideals of All Progressive Congress, APC, was spelt out before the general elections in 2015, followers of the change agenda who knew what they wanted joined keyed into the vision of a promised land.
As the campaign gathered momentum, it became clear that the season for President Muhammadu Buhari had come and those who believed in his philosophy did not hesitate in taking the message to all the nooks and cranny of the state.
Same happened ahead of the governorship election in the state, as the party which had gained wide followership commenced the routing of the then PDP led administration.
But the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the standard bearer of APC in the state, changed everything setting the party on a collision course, which could, unless urgent steps are taken to right the wrong, signal the collapse of the party.
With the State’s House of Assembly enmeshed in a twisted crisis, the confluence state has continued to enjoy national spotlight, albeit in unflattering ways, far from the expected development it badly craves.
Just when many observers thought it wouldn’t get any worse, the APC leadership in the state passed a vote of no confidence on the young governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, for lack of direction.
They accused him of sidelining members of the state executive council and other organs of the party in the affairs of the state.
The state executive council of the party met in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Monday, April 11 and part of the outcome of the meeting was to forward a letter to the national headquarters of the party detailing the many “sins” of Governor Bello.
In a letter dated April 12, 2016, and addressed to the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun and signed by all the 34 members of the state executive council, the Kogi APC accused Mr. Bello of sidelining members of the governing party and hobnobbing with members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
According to party members, One of such allegation was giving out all sensitive positions, like SUBEB amongst others, to none party members but those from opposition.
They alleged that the proper thing to kick start the government of Bello was to bring back all aggrieved party from late Audu and Faleke and other elders of the party together. He would have started mending and appealing to the people, all these did not mean anything to the governor.
Observers who have watched Kogi politics for quite sometimes now opined that APC, was more or less late, Prince Abubakar Audu’s brain-child, noting that nobody would be surprised to see the party now in shred.
A party member, Abdulahi Zakari lamented that “a trip through the party secretariat of a ruling party in the state will show the glimpse of the picture of what we are saying, people have abandoned the party Secretariat as it is not the party in power at the federal and Kogi State.”
A chieftain of the party, Hon Ben Adaji, urged the governor to resign and save the purpose of APC in Kogi State for lack of direction.
He said Alhaji Yahaya Bello is running a one man government which does not conform with the present norms of modern democracy, noting that the governor is running Kogi State like his personal estate. With all these wrangling, Kogi APC has murdered sleep and can sleep no more.
The other faction which claimed the authenticity of the leadership of APC in Kogi State on April 19 in a communique after their meeting said “some individual groups claiming to be exco members of All Progressive Congress are out to obstruct the good governance planned for our dear state by our young, amiable, vibrant, detribalised, focused and a proper respecter of rule of law governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello”.
It was alleged by the faction that those who signed vote of no confidence were working for has a pre-planned meeting with Hon James Faleke.
However, APC youths cut across the three senatorial districts of Kogi State on Monday passed a vote of confidence on Governor Yahaya Bello.
Their leaders during a press conference addressed at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) press centre in Lokoja, said they were not aware of a vote-of-no confidence on Bello by the APC executive council in the state.
In a communique issued shortly after the press conference, the APC Youths Executive accussed “certain individuals and interest groups within the rank and file of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State” of making public a dishourable intent to subvert the APC government of Governor Yahaya Bello in Kogi State.
They asserted that as the governor of Kogi, Bello remains the APC leader in the state, adding if they were distancing themselves from those bent on destroying the state. The Kogi APC Youth Leader, Emmanuel Ayo Ayodele declared
their support for the governor, vowing that they will not allow agents of confusion have their way.
He said, “The agents of confusion have sworn to put all manners of impediment in the path of the new administration in order to derail the New Direction to peace, unity and progress in which Go Excellency has started moving Kogi State after many years of ruin by previous administrations.
“In pursuit of their clandestine agenda these unscrupulous persons have made spited efforts to discredit the wonderful work our great party, through the purposeful leadership of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, is doing in Kogi State”.
“Some of them, under the aegis of a section of the APC membership in Kogi State have now written letters to the written letters to the national leadership of our great party and other critical stakeholders in the APC fold alleging imaginary infractions as well as perceived personal wrongs allegedly done them by His Excellency’s administration and within the APC in Kogi State”.
Several interest groups have met to laud the image of the governor which the party executives have dented in the last two weeks.
Credit: Leadership
