A group of respected elders and political leaders from Kogi State have cried out to President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to arrest the political crisis affecting the party in the state or risk its sudden death.
The group, in a statement made available to the media Wednesday in Abuja, accused the Governor Idris Wada-led administration of lacking a sense of direction.
It also accused the administration of incompetence, corruption and illegalities.
In the statement jointly signed by Senators Alex Kadiri, Mohammed Ohiare, former Speaker of the state House of Assembly and former Acting Governor, Clarence Olafemi, former state PDP Chairman, John Odawun, Air Vice Marshall Salihu Atawodi (rtd) and former governorship aspirant, Dr Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba, the group listed the underdevelopment of the state, the crisis in the state House of Assembly, the looting of state resources and several illegalities and undemocratic practices as serious concerns.
“We, the under-signed, are stakeholders and prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State. We wish to make our feelings known to you on the series of illegalities and undemocratic practices being perpetuated by the Captain Idris Wada-led administration and to urge you, as the leader of our great party, to take urgent measures to save our party from imminent death and the state from the coming anarchy”, the statement reads.
“It is rather unfortunate that our beloved state has acquired notoriety for unwholesome political practices, arrested development, deepening poverty and primitive state of infrastructure –all due largely to chronic mis-governance and endemic corruption of the last decade.”
The statement continued: “It is now very clear to all that Captain Idris Wada – the man who was not even a card-carrying member of our party when he was imposed on us as governorship candidate in 2011- has absolutely no clue how to run a modern state. In nearly one year on the saddle, Wada cannot point to one tangible project executed by his administration beside a whitewashed roundabout in front of Government House, Lokoja.”
“Despite the already bloated state workforce, Wada has employed 57 Special Advisers (the state House of Assembly approved only 24), 74 Senior Special Assistants, 20 commissioners and innumerable special and personal assistants.”
They said a big chunk of scarce state resources is going to be spent on the salaries of political appointees many of whom have no schedules of duty.
“Party members are disappointed that the national headquarters of the party seems to have turned a blind eye on the plight of party members in the state. They are angry that some highly placed individuals in the Presidency have continued to provide underserved cover for such illegalities in the hope of reaping selfish political benefits”, they continued.
“We wish to remind Mr. President about his invitation and subsequent meeting with PDP stake stakeholders on November 30, 2011, two days to the Kogi gubernatorial elections, at the Presidential Villa, where you appealed to us to participate and work for the PDP, despite our serious misgivings about Wada. That meeting, called at your instance, was to avert what the PDP National Secretariat, and your office, saw as a looming doom for the party in Kogi State. You discovered that the then governor had been lying to you that he was in charge of Kogi State, and that there was no cause for alarm.”
