The agreement of the
National Working Committee, NWC of the All Progressive Congress, APC, with the
party’s stakeholders in Kogi to use indirect primary to chose the governorship
candidate for the November 16 poll has continued to raise dust.
Judging from the past, each governorship election in Kogi has always proved to
be a different ball game.
The victories recorded by
the APC in the last elections notwithstanding, the incumbent Governor, Yahaya
Bello, will be up against history. To begin with, no non-Igala has ever won
Kogi governorship election since creation of the state in 1991. The
Igala-dominated Kogi East Senatorial District is reputed to account for 52 per
cent of the state’s voting strength.
Bello, an Ebira from Kogi
Central was governor by accident, occasioned by Abubakar Audu’s death; a
condition the NWC of the ruling APC is weighing – either to back the governor
or choose an Igala candidate.
Currently, Bello is fighting for the APC ticket with many aspirants, majority of whom are from the Igala-dominated Kogi East.
Former NASDRA Director
General, Prof. Seidu Ogah; former NFF President, Sani Lulu; immediate Chief of
Naval Staff, Admiral Usman Jubril; and son of former governor of the state,
Prince Abubakar Audu, Mohammed Audu, are the most talked about aspirants in the
zone.
In Kogi west, the Director
General, Consumer Protection Council, Barrister Tunde Irukera is in the race
too.
While all the other
aspirants want direct primaries, only Bello opted for indirect. With the NWC
choice of Indirect, Bello seems to be having the upper hand with the other
aspirants appearing to make Bello their common enemy. All of them seem
interested in him not getting the ticket than concentrating on how they can
succeed at the primaries. For now, all other aspirants have reached out to one
or two persons at the nation level to pursue their aspirations.
Bello’s headache
Despite getting the party to
accept his choice of primary, the governor still faces another litmus test,
which has to do with with his Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja, whom he desires as
running mate for the poll.
Onoja, Christian, Igala from
Olamaboro council area of Kogi East seems to have courted more enemies for
Bello’s administration than the governor himself. The claim of Bello’s Chief of
Staff being in charge of government has been rife. Onoja has continued to enjoy
limelight. He makes policy statements and has a retinue of aides. No government
programme, poster or billboard is complete without Onoja’s picture adorning it.
He seems to have much influence on the governor and is said to be nursing the
ambition of replacing Bello as governor in 2023. The governor goes by the
security name of White Lion, Onoja is also addressed as the White Oracle.
While the governor was moving around to woo National leader Bola Tinubu and others for the ticket, Onoja was busy talking tough in the state. Many had begged the governor to call Onoja to order but that seems not to have yielded positive result. Many in the state are in a raging battle with Bello because of his CoS. Many party members, appointees and stakeholders are hell bent on not working for Bello’s second term unless he did away with his Chief of Staff.
The game of other aspirants
The other aspirants are bent
on ensuring that Bello did not return in addition to pursuing their
aspirations. While Jubril Usman is said to have latched onto the rivalry
between Bello and James Faleke to gain favour from Tinubu’s camp; Sani Lulu is
being backed by Nasir el -Rufai; Seidu Ogah is the option for the APC Women
leader, Salamatu Baiwa; and Muhammed Audu is riding on the goodwill of the late
Prince Abubakar Audu.
Jubril
Usman
Admiral Usman is the most
talked about among the aspirants. He enjoys much support on the social media.
He has the goodwill of Igala people having attracted the Navy Secondary school
in Okura and the Naval Base in Idah, all in his senatorial axis. Said to enjoy
the backing of Asiwaju Tinubu, it is to be seen if these factors will work in
his favour.
Seidu
Ogah
The former NASDRA DG is a
first termer in the race. He is being backed by the National Women Leader of
the party, who is said to be pressing for support through the First Lady, Aisha
Buhari. To sail through, Seidu has to build a strong base in the state and woo
party leaders and faithful.
Sani
Lulu
Currently, Lulu is said to
be enjoying El -Rufai’s backing. The Kaduna State governor was once Bello’s
best ally among the governors. No one knows why or when their relationship went
sour. But it is obvious that Bello is no longer in El – Rufai’s good books else
he won’t need to be running after Tinubu to curry favour as he had done in past
couple of months. But for Lulu, aside the endorsement from the Kogi East Elders
Council who picked him ahead of other aspirants in APC, he has been operating
in the Diaspora and needs to do more at home.
Muhammed
Audu
Those who thought that
Muhammed would enjoy the support of Faleke to curry Tinubu’s camp support were
surprised, when the latter settled for Usman. Faleke ran a joint ticket with
Muhammed’s father, Late Prince Abubakar Audu who died at the edge of victory in
the 2015 governorship election.
Muhammed was said to have
fallen apart with Faleke because of his governorship ambition.
Muhammed is rich haven’t inherited his
father’s chain of businesses but he still has a family affair to resolve. His
younger brother, Mona Audu is said he is in the race. His uncle, Yahaya Audu
has also indicated interest. However, last week, the Audu family endorsed
Muhammed and asked the others to drop their ambitions. However, Mona is
insisting on running claiming that most members of the family are backing him.
Irukera
For now, Irukera is the only Kogi West
aspirant in the race. Tactful, intelligent, resourceful and a good
administrator, Irukera, needs more than good personality to go far.
We’ll
resist imposition of candidates – ADEYEMI
However, Senator Smart
Adeyemi has admonished the NWC not to imposed a candidate on the party, saying
that such imposition will be met with stiff resistance.
Adeyemi said the APC in the
state has operated an open mode of primaries for all their elective positions,
warning that any contrary decision that will show favoritism to any particular
person by the national body will spell doom for the party. He said majority of
the stakeholders have endorsed the State governor for a second term, adding
anybody not in line with the decision should be made to pass through free and
fair primaries. “Party stakeholders in the
state like me will not accept a situation where people were handpicked to fly
the flag of the party. That is a demonstration of godfatherism that is strange
to Kogi APC. The NWC must display an assuring role to every member of the party
that there would be no imposition of candidates. As far as the November 16,
2019 election is concerned, we should not give room for imposition of any
manner. The NWC should by now taken a clue from Zamfara, Bauchi and other
states where the perceived imposition took a negative toll on the party at the
end of the elections.
“Kogi APC will say no to any form of
imposition of candidates on us. We will not tolerate it; we must assure the
party members that there must be internal democracy in our party. We have many
aspirants who have shown interest in the contest, why must the emphasis be on
the governor not getting the ticket? What the party should place emphasis on is
free, fair and credible party primaries,” he said.