The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State is already jittery over massive support for PDP flag-bearer in the November 16 governorship election.
Director-General of Engineer Musa Wada/Hon Sam Aro Governorship Campaign Organisation, Honourable Tajudeen Yusuf, in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, said there was no way the electorate in the state would be confused in the face of “suffering and deprivations”.
Yusuf was reacting to some comments credited to Senator Smart Adeyemi, the Director-General of APC Governorship campaign on the purported endorsement of Governor Yahaya Bello by Okun people of the state.
He said: “My attention has been drawn to some comments credited to Senator Smart Adeyemi, the Director-General of APC Governorship campaign wherein he rabidly disparaged our ancestors in Okun land of Kogi state and made yet another futile effort to confuse the electorate with their usual vague assertions.
“He was not known for comedy yet he stirred unbelievable laughter when he claimed that our ancestors in Okun land, the Yoruba-speaking parts of Kogi state, are in full support of the misery and deprivations, including the denial of salaries until election date came close.
“Kogites cannot accommodate the official deception that is being institutionalized; neither can our state attribute any seriousness to the unrealistic and grossly unproductive vocal haemorrhage being used in the name of doing his job as the chief salesperson of his party that has only achieved iconic insensitivity to the plights of our people in Kogi state.
“Perhaps, the huge success, contrary to his earlier boastful comments, of the formal inauguration of the PDP Governorship Campaign Committees, which took place in Lokoja on Friday must have informed the unfortunate comments of my very dear big brother.
“Indeed, as the chief campaigner of his party, Senator Adeyemi seems shocked by the mammoth crowd of genuine supporters, so much unlike their rented crowds, that joined the convoy of Engr Musa Wada, Hon. Sam Aro and other party leaders in and around Lokoja, to the venue of the event.
“The massive turnout of Kogites from all walks of life; men, women, youths, workers, petty traders, Okada riders, Keke NAPEP drivers and more, must have jolted my big brother and dampened the confidence level of his masters,” he said.
According to him, the comment that by Smart Adeyemi that he (Yusuf) should dump PDP and join APC so as not to allow ancestors of Okun land rage against him, was unacceptable.
He said: “Many very senior leaders and members of APC at the national level have over time, consistently mounted pressure on me to join their party; despite various overtures and countless promises by some of these respected personalities, I respectfully turned down such invitations.
“I did this, severally, not out of arrogance but out of my firm commitment to the lofty ideals and vision of the Peoples Democratic Party as well as the need to emphasize the need for every politician to develop the attribute of discipline, selflessness and sacrifice.
“To the glory of God, I have remained a loyal, consistent, principled and committed member of the PDP.
“I have refused to join the group of politicians who benefited hugely from the PDP in the past and found it easy to abandon the ship through which they assumed prominence and acquired unimaginable comfort, to join the APC,” he said.
