Tunde Ajibulu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State at the weekend said Governor Yahaya Bello lacks a deep knowledge of the history and intricacies of politics in the state.
Reacting to a statement by the governor that he would defeat any opponent from Kogi East in the November 16 governorship election, Ajibulu who was a member of the Logistics Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in the just-concluded general elections, said Kogi East had always produced the governor since the formation of the state in 1991 because it constitutes 50 percent of the voting population.
According to him, even the incumbent governor was only a beneficiary of the votes of the people of Kogi East as he was chosen to replace the late Abubakar Audu who was leading in the governorship election before his unfortunate demise.
“I am not sure someone of his caliber made this statement, but if he actually did, then the governor doesn’t seem to have deep knowledge about the history, nature, and intricacies of Kogi politics. Indeed, one of the fundamental features of a democracy is government based on majority rule”.
“So everywhere, politics is a game of numbers and the majority will always have their way. To refresh his memory, Kogi East Senatorial district constitute more than 50% of the total voting population of Kogi state and that is why all the governorship elections that have been held since the creation of the state in 1991 starting from Abubakar Audu in 1992 to the same Abubakar Audu in 2015 has been won by candidates from Kogi East Senatorial District. Bello should recollect that he lost the 2015 APC primaries because of the votes of delegates from Kogi East and West”.
“I would like to inform him that democracy is evolving positively in Nigeria. Look at what happened during the 2019 governorship elections in Adamawa, Kwara, Bauchi, Ogun, Oyo, and Imo States where despite the enormous powers of incumbency, sitting governors either lost their reelection bids or failed to install their protégés because of their bad antecedents and poor performance”.
“The governor was the lucky beneficiary of the sad events surrounding the unfortunate demise of actual winner of the 2015 Governorship election, but he couldn’t manage the attendant political dysfunction that characterised the crisis which has totally eroded the credibility of his regime,” he said.
Credit: Daily Independent
