I see nothing wrong in the decision reached by the APC National Working Committee (NWC) on the indirect mode of primaries for Kogi governorship. If that is what legally recognised party executives and stakeholders in the State are favourably disposed to.
Moreover, I surmise the NWC is being careful this time to avoid a recap of the unfortunate Zamfara saga, including the sad ordeal which befell the party in Ogun and Imo States respectively.
The rationale with which the Hadi Ametuo faction of the APC State executive went to court to challenge their abrupt removal was that their tenure hasn’t ended as at the time they were removed; they were supposed to be the right executive to conduct the primaries for all elective offices for the 2019 election. While their 4-year tenure of office was to end in November 2018, they were dissolved in June 2018 before primaries for the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections were conducted.
However, I have trembled to ventilate a number of quizzes on the development. First, there are two factions of the APC State executives and they have a case in court to determine which of the two factions is the authentic party executive. Since it will be indirect primaries, which of the State party executives will conduct or partake in the primaries? The Hadi Ametuo faction brought up by the late Prince Abubakar Audu or the ones handpicked and set up by Governor Yahaya Bello headed by Abdullahi Bello Dollar? Everything is still very much in the balance.
To me, it is still early for any of the two camps to jubilate until we get more details from the NWC on which of the two factional executives will be used for the primaries.
The jubilation by the Bello camp regarding the APC NWC’s adoption of indirect primaries, as is with almost everything they do, immature and meant to raise dust and confusion. It is akin to a weak peacock bloating out to deceive and faze the enemy. There is a long way to go before ultimate victory: the court case yet to be decided; the primaries – direct or indirect – and the main election in November. All candidates contesting the primaries within the APC. It is advantage nobody.
The game is afoot, let us sit back and enjoy it play out.
The state leading opposition party PDP has a fixed primary formula which is indirect primary in Kogi state with every critical stakeholders in the party having his or her own interest, with Alhaji Ibrahim Idris Ibro’s son in the race though promising to be neutral the idea that some contenders finding it difficult to believe, the PDP leader is now being view by so many as an aspirant with his son in the race.
Capt. Idris Wada, the aviation expert who governed the state before the Bello administration which so many rumored that he is out of the race is now back in the race and the stage is open. Wada now not being seen as a leader more but an aspirant on equal ground with his former two commissioners in the race with him.
Senator Dino Melaye is one man viewed by so many as a rallying point before now due to the fact that there is mechanism in place to unite the party as the elite are at each other’s throats. Melaye whom so many thought will remain a Senator and act as an absorber for the party in the case of eventuality, do not just indicate interest but has picked his form already. Melaye is now an aspirant.
Senator Ahmodu Ali, the former party National chairman viewed by many as a controversial figure with his inconsistency in his elders council recommendations that is busy coming out with different result every week has lost it potency and venom. With his son indicating interest for Lugard House he has lost the taste of leadership and he is being view as an aspirant. The floor is open and the battle line is drawn in the race of every one equal before the masses.
– Usman Okai Austin
