The Kogi Elders’ Council, a group of some leaders of thought in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under the aegis of Kogi State Elders’ Council for Good Governance, has warned the party against fielding Alhaji Jubril Isah Echocho as its gubernatorial candidate in the November 21 election.
The group, in a statement endorsed by its chairman and General Secretary, Ahmadu Ejiga and Sunday Olufemi, respectively, said that Governor Idris Wada has done more than required to secure the party’s endorsement for re-election.
The group stated that Echocho has remained aloof to party affairs since he lost the bid to emerge the candidate in 2011, adding that the governor had so far sustained the party.
According to the statement, Echocho reportedly maintains a family relationship with the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Abubakar Audu, while also alleging that an unwholesome plot to deliver the state to the APC was being orchestrated by some PDP members.
But the spokesman of the Echocho Campaign, Phrank Shaibu, stated that the claims by the elders were baseless allegations, insisting that the elders’ group was made up of persons who lost elections in their polling units and wards in the last election.
Shaibu added that the elders have led the party to monumental losses, noting that under their guidance, the PDP lost three senators to the APC, while the governor organised only one rally for the former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
The statement made available by the elders’ group said: “Let us not pretend for one moment that Alhaji Jibrin Isah (Echocho) is on a genuine mission in his quest for nomination as the candidate of the PDP for the 2015 gubernatorial election in Kogi State. Everybody on the street in Kogi State knows that Echocho, whose daughter is married to Prince Abubakar Audu’s son, has come on stage to do the bidding of his in-law, i.e. to deliver the state to the All Progressive Congress (APC) whose flag Prince Audu is flying as the gubernatorial candidate of the party.
“In fact, it is an open secret that Prince Audu has boasted that after his tenure (if he wins), he will hand over to Echocho on the platform of APC. It is, therefore, not surprising that in the last three months preceding the PDP Congress, Echocho placed posters, billboards and other campaign materials that did not carry the logo of PDP in furtherance of their grand design.
The group further said: “We say on a good authority, and without any fear of contradiction whatsoever, that Echocho never participated in the activities of the party between 2011 and July 2015. He was never sighted at any meeting of the party, be it at the ward level, local government level, senatorial level and state level. The only evidence of his membership of PDP is the collection of governorship nomination form for the 2015 governorship election.”
However, the Echocho camp have insisted that Governor Wada and the APC candidate, indeed, have a more chubby relationship than Echocho, adding that it was untrue that Echocho did not participate in the activities of the party until now.
Shaibu argued that Echocho fully participated in the last presidential campaign, warning that the elders were, indeed, the ones planning to mortgage the PDP to APC in Kogi.
“The position of an elder in the party goes beyond newspaper posturing. It is obvious that the said elders want to continue to have Kogi as their footholds without delivering for the party,” he said.
