Fresh indication has emerged of a rumble in the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Kogi State chapter as a group has raised the alarm over what it considered as the imposition of chairmanship candidates ahead of May 4, local government poll in state.
The former scribe of the party in the state, Dr Goodman Umar, said unless the party’s national leaders intervene before the crisis gets out of hand, it may affect the fortune of the party in the council poll.
Umar alleged that a former governor in the state, Prince Abubakar Audu’s move would prevent the party from shining at the forth coming council election if not checked in earnest.
The former party scribe said the party was preparing for the scheduled council election and that their arrangement is in top gear, adding that aspirants for chairmanship and councillorship positions who bought the forms had been screened and are awaiting the party’s primary election before the former governor arrived in the country.
Umar alleged that as soon as he arrived on the scene, he abandoned what was on ground and set up a new criteria for the aspirants, saying that chairmanship aspirants, in particular, should submit statements of their accounts and that the richest person will be an automatic candidate for the party in any local government.
“This is unthinkable and very ridiculous. What a myopic way to select candidates for election. Audu’s formula is not only fraudulent but disgusting.
This man is still living in the past,” he said. Umar said the ex-governor’s way of doing things, which has not changed, has thrown the hopeful Kogi ACN into disarray, saying party members are threatening to defect to another party especially in Idah, Ofu, Dekina, Yagba West Local Government Areas of the state where the party had wanted to capitalise on the crisis in the PDP to achieve victory at the poll.
Buttressing his allegation, he said in Idah Local Government Area, one Abubakar Alhassan, who came out last of the four aspirants in the PDP primary election on March18, became the party’s flagbearer within 24 hours, saying the said candidate is still a card-carrying member of the PDP.
Umaru said before the ex-governor brought in this confusion, the party parades two credible aspirants, Hon. Ibrahim Etubi Aku, a former councillor and a social crusader and Hon. Amodu Shaibu, a business tycoon and philanthropist, who had worked tirelessly to move the party to an enviable height in the area.
The party chieftain in the state therefore appealed to the national body of the ACN to wade in as a matter of urgency to prevent another doom for the party in the impending council election.
