A foremost aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 governorship election in Kogi State has described as a poorly-executed hatchet job, the statement by the state chapter of the party, in which it called for the disqualification of leading contenders in the race for the party’s ticket, so as to clear the way for Governor Yahaya Bello’s victory at the party’s primary billed to hold in August.
In a statement on Thursday in Abuja by Professor Seidu Ogah Mohammed through his Director of Communication, Moses Abdullahi condemned the attempt by the party to give Governor Bello an undue advantage, describing the Kogi State chapter of the party as recklessly unjust, undisguisedly biased and devoid of any shred of impartiality.
“It is common knowledge that the Kogi State chapter of the APC is an appendage of the Governor Yahaya Bello’s office with its undisguised support as it pertains the upcoming governorship primary election in our dear state. But the party stretched its luck too far on Wednesday when it called for our disqualification,” the statement said.
The statement said it was scandalous that the party is not hiding its plan to shut credible contenders out of the race even when it knows for a fact that a Yahaya Bello’s second coming portends disaster for Kogi State.
Ogah said it was sad that Kogi APC in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Malam Jibril Abu went on to endorse a failed governor even when “it is a well-known fact that a Yahaya Bello’s second term would mean hunger, poverty, disease, continuing political weakness, falling standard of education and dwindling prospect of progress in all the critical sectors of Kogi State’s economy.”
He said they (aspirants) were disposed to direct primary as a way of selecting the party’s flag bearer because it is more democratic but said that with or without the direct primary, “we will defeat Yahaya Bello fair and square.”
Ogah noted that it was rather unfortunate that, instead of owning up on its ineptitude and insensitivity to the plight of Kogi people for four years now, Governor Yahaya Bello and his puppets at the Kogi APC have chosen the path of unprovoked, malicious attempt to scheme credible contenders out of the race.
He stressed that the choice of such path by the State Chapter of the party is further proof that the lives of my people do not matter to it.
“The life of a single person who has died from hunger as a result of nonpayment of salary should matter and its loss is regrettable and calls for serious concern. It is more painful when such life is lost in a preventable circumstance,” the statement said.
Professor Ogah said he was aware that when a political party becomes partial as the Kogi State Chapter of the APC has become, the situation often helps to lay the groundwork for rigging in elections but warned that all other aspirants and their supporters will resist the rigging of August APC governorship primary in Kogi State come August.
— Agency Report
