Guber Poll: Kogi APC, Gov Bello's Aides Ask Oshiomhole to Sanction Usman, Mohammed, other Aspirants »

-says co-aspirants are working for PDP
The Kogi State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress on Tuesday asked the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to sanction some aspirants who are seeking the party’s ticket for the ‪November 16‬ governorship election in the state, describing them as moles working for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the sole aim of destabilizing the party in the run-up to the 2019 Kogi State Governorship Elections.

The party leaders said that contrary to the directive of the National Executive Committee of the APC, some so-called aspirants and ‘chieftains’ were trying to dictate to the state chapter of the party the method of primary election to be adopted in choosing the gubernatorial candidate for the upcoming election. They fingered Senator Alex Kadiri, Vice Admiral Jibrin Usman, Mohammed Audu, Professor Seidu Mohammed Ogah and others as the nucleus of the alleged subversion plot.

The party described the views of the alleged plotters reported in the Vanguard of June 18,2019 and other media as part of a script written for them by the PDP-dominated Kogi East ELDERS Council (KEEC). The party said the individuals included new entrants who were not even properly in the party yet who, instead of studying to understand the political dynamics and yearnings of the people rather chose to dictate terms to the party.

The Kogi State APC said such people would be making a grave mistake if they try to undermine the decision of the state working committee of the party which had since adopted the indirect mode of primary to pick the party’s standard bearer in the state.

The state executive committee which made its position known through its Publicity Secretary said Usman, Mohammed and the other aspirants were apparently on a mission to spoil the chances of the APC in the upcoming election and should therefore be disqualified by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party for anti-party activities.

He revealed that only recently the same set of people subjected themselves to a PDP populated and controlled Kogi East Elders Council for a screening exercise and thereafter sought to be anointed flagbearers of the APC. The party spokesperson said their insistence that the APC in the state must use direct primaries to choose her governorship candidate, against the indirect method earlier approved for the state by the APC leadership, was an indication that they had ulterior motives.

The statement read: ‘Our attention has been drawn to the anti-party activities of some new entrants into the governorship race in our dear state on the platform of our great party, the APC, who have been romancing the PDP-dominated Kogi East Elders Council and who are now acting out a script by the PDP aimed at destabilizing our party to make way for a default victory for the opposition PDP in the forthcoming governorship election in our state. It accused them of meeting in Abuja yesterday to finalise modalities for subverting the adoption of Indirect Primaries by the State Executive Council of the party.

A political aide to the Governor decried the unholy romance between the PDP and the so-called APC chieftains who openly engage in the anti-party activities. ‘For instance, Senator Alex Kadiri hosted a coalition of Kogi politicians hostile to the incumbent APC administration in the state to a meeting yesterday. Attendees came from an Abuja fringe of politicians claiming to be part of Kogi APC but who are totally uninvolved with the party. Others were well-known members of the PDP and other minor opposition parties. As usual their agenda is how to undermine Governor Yahaya Bello whose governance and political profile has left them helplessly and hopelessly behind. As far as they are concerned, with PDP as their back up plan, Kogi APC can become collateral casualty in the process.’

‘They want to box the national secretariat of the APC into denying the Governor a second term ticket outside due process and the party’s constitution hoping it will lead to an uproar among his teeming supporters which will tear the Kogi State APC apart. The party at the national is surely aware of these underhanded business, and must take action now to excise these dishonest desperados from our midst.’

The aide, who was visibly disappointed wondered how people who claimed to be interested in the APC’s ticket can team up with known opposition figures to manufacture crises in a hitherto peaceful chapter while using unending negative media to destroy her image and the powers that be will look on unconcerned. ‘I know our party, our National Chairman and I know this nonsense cannot continue unpunished’, he concluded.

On what might have motivated these members to allegedly join the opposition in working against their own party, the state chairman of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello posited that it might not be unconnected with their fears that Governor Yahaya Bello remains the candidate to beat. On whether he thought their fears justified, he replied that certainly the Governor held an edge having built the party from about 50,000 registered members in 2015 to over 500,000 today while leading it to victory in all electoral outings since he came to office.

‘You cannot take away the fact that between 90-95% of our members trace their membership of the APC to the Governor. He wooed them and he nurtured them. With Yahaya Bello the party has been on a winning streak. Our members love to win. It is difficult for any late entrant to wipe out nearly 4 years of vigorous engagement by the Leader of the party and his Chief of Staff.’

He however advised the co-aspirants that the best way to go about erasing the deficit in their connection to the people and getting delegates to vote for them at the primaries is not to become part of a movement to compromise the APC from inside. ‘We are already aware of their plans to push the party into costly pre-election mistakes which can be litigated to overturn the APC’s expected victory in the November 16 Kogi governorship polls. We can assure those nursing such plans that it will not work. They have failed already.’

Commenting on the alleged meeting in Abuja, Edward Onoja who is Chief of Staff to Governor Yahaya Bello and the APC’s Director-General of Campaigns for the 2019 General Elections expressed his belief that the present roles of some who claim APC today in Kogi merely reflect what people already knew about them for long, that they are actually the opposition in disguise.

‘Whenever you see the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob playing out, deceit and theft of another person’s blessing is at work. Some of these men are opposition leaders who worked for the PDP up until the General Elections earlier this year. They were dismayed and discombobulated by the groundbreaking defeat they received from our party earlier this year. Their idea of a comeback is to invade the APC and try to destroy her from within.’

Chief Onoja also said that the APC members who allegedly attended the meeting at Senator Kadiri’s house are notorious for their disdain for the party in Kogi, their opposition to the Governor and have shown before now that they are prepared to do anything to pave way for their own gubernatorial ambitions. He also dismissed them as people who already have established records of failing the APC when it matters most.

‘Aside from Alex Kadiri himself who was allegedly the host, retired AVM Jibrin Usman, Prof. Seidu Mohammed Ogah of NASRDA of and Babatunde Irukera of CPC are the other so-called APC aspirants who allegedly attended the meeting. The question to ask is what were their contributions to the massive win Kogi APC led by Governor Yahaya Bello recorded in the presidential, national and state assemblies elections in February and March this year? How do you explain a situation where the APC will win everywhere in a so-called chieftain’s constituency except in his units, ward or local government area? This is in spite of the party’s huge investment in them by way of appointment and patronage at the federal level? Does it mean their family and kinsmen are not with him? If that is the case, do they sound like persons we should entrust our precious ticket to?’

Reeling out the records, the Chief of Staff pointed out that it was the same ones who handed the APC defeats in their home base in the presidential, national and state assemblies elections during the 2019 General Elections just 3 months ago who are today struggling to discredit those who not only delivered their constituencies but helped to power the party to a resounding victory, even in opposition enclaves.

‘In Dekina LGA where Admiral Jibrin Usman hails from, the APC won in majority of the units but lost in the aspirant’s Okura Ward, Agudoko Polling Unit where Atiku Abubakar of the PDP defeated President Buhari by 103 to 73 votes. Please explain how he could not deliver his unit despite the overwhelming popularity of the party in the area. It is just appalling. We hear he has cases with the EFCC and it might just be better for him to face them. Kogi APC cannot grant a chance at immunity to the very same people our party is prosecuting as Governing Party.’

On Prof. Seidu Mohammed Ogah, the Chief of Staff referred to him as another ’emergency chieftain’ who also failed the APC woefully in the last General Elections. ‘Mr. President lost Ogah’s LGA, Omala to Atiku with 2467 votes. Actually, the professor’s lack of electoral value in Kogi East and the state as a whole is traceable to widespread grievances against him by the populace. There are serious allegations of money-for-jobs racketeering against him by Kogi youths. You must understand that our people hate that kind of thing. They believe public office comes from God as a trust for the people. If you can give people jobs, give. If you can’t, make it clear. But if you, or those around you, make them buy those jobs, they may do so out of immediate desperation, but there will be payback down the line. Our people don’t forget or forgive such things easily and before Prof Ogah can make a serious bid for any political position at all, not to mention the Governorship, he must disprove those allegations. They are an albatross around his neck.’

Reminded that the Usman and Ogah were not the only ones who lost at home, and that Barrister Babatunde Irukera, DG of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) also did, the Chief of Staff revealed that the gentleman was the biggest surprise in all of this. ‘A suave gentleman like him with a weighty political appointment ought not to have lost at home. Yet, the PDP handed us a defeat in his Polling Unit with Mr. President losing to Atiku with 227 votes. We also lost the Senatorial and House of Assembly votes in his unit.’

For the Chief of Staff, what is at stake in the 2019 gubers is not just the personal aspirations of individuals, but the dominance of the party in the state and the need to ensure the Next Level of governance for the populace. ‘Such disconnect from one’s own people is a key consideration in testing the political waters for a possible run at elective office. Let Barrister Irukera go home to his people, sit down with them and pet them until he finds out why they disgraced him like that. Then let him reconcile with them. After that, he can come and consider running for public office.’

Expectedly, Onoja gave his boss very high marks as as Governor and party leader of Kogi APC. ‘From 2016 to 2019 my boss has been laying strong foundations for reforms in all sectors. Thankfully, those reforms have taken root despite the plenty of teething pains caused by an abysmal lack of structures to build from. If you had to spend weeks collecting BVNs in Kogi civil service, something the previous federal administration concluded for even Nigerians in diaspora, you can understand why staff screening and other civil service reforms overshot target dates. In any case, all that is behind us now. 2020-2024 is for growth and harvest in wealth creation, human capital development and socioeconomic expansion and integration. Kogi APC and by extension Kogites as a people cannot risk people who by their body and spoken language are coming to reverse the hand of the clock.’

For Evangelist Kingsley Fanwo, the Director-General, Media and Publicity to the Governor, the issues have never been clearer. ‘We have made our case. If the APC wants to win Kogi State, it should put forward a credible and popular candidate. At this point, we know that all APC faithfuls in Kogi State are aware that any attempt to field any other candidate apart from Governor Yahaya Bello will spell doom for the party.’

Fanwo said that Usman and Mohammed were not genuine APC members and were spoilers on a mission to ruin the chances of the party under ruse of calling for direct Primaries. ‘They are people who have commanded men and led organisations. They know the logistical nightmare involved in mobilising over 500,000 APC members to come out from all nooks and crannies of Kogi State and physically stand to vote at one place.’ Outside of the impossible costs of such an ill-fated adventure, the DG doubted Kogi State even had a venue big enough to hold a crowd that large.

‘Those calling for that fiasco are the real enemies of the people. Direct primaries are unmanageable in any general election because of the sheer crowd size.’ He also sided with the Chief of Staff on the failure record of the co-aspirants. ‘These men are yet to prove to us that they can win elections. So far, all they have done is show how they can lose, even among their nearest and dearest. They do not inspire confidence in anyone that if entrusted to them the APC flag has any chance of flying high as it is has become accustomed to doing in the victorious hands of Governor Bello.’

Alhaji Abdullahi Bello, the Chairman of the APC in Kogi State further advised the naysayers and blackmailer to submit to the supremacy of the party. ‘At the state level, stakeholders have chosen the delegates option and therefore we counsel Usman, Ogah, Mohammed and others to close ranks and join hands with other party stakeholders and the people of the state to consolidate on the gains made by the Governor Yahaya Bello led New Direction Administration in Kogi State.’

Looking at the matter from a legal angle, Moses Okezie-Okafor, a lawyer and Director-General, Research and Development in the Office of the Governor opined that the adoption of Indirect Primaries by the Kogi State APC last Saturday was in substantial compliance with the spirit and intendment of the applicable laws of the land.

‘The summary is that within the cascade of authority from the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Electoral Act to INEC Guidelines to the APC Constitution and finally the party guidelines, the Kogi APC was very much in order. Parties need to direct their energies now to campaign on issues, not calumny.’

It will be recalled that in a recent chat with the press, Governor Yahaya Bello insisted that all aspirants were his brothers, revealed that he was comfortable with any form of primaries and expressed his confidence that God will give him the victory in November. No doubt there are those within his party who need to hear his message and give peace a chance.