Kogi has come alive again. Political activities
have peaked ahead of the governorship election in the state. An array of
aspirants has indicated interest to contest for the diadem on the platform of
different political parties over the past weeks. The All Progressives Congress
(APC) is leading the pack, with 15 aspirants throwing their hats in the race
for Lugard House. Analysts posit that the number is likely to increase as the
contest date draws closer.
Unlike the APC, the would-be aspirants on the
ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform seem to be cautious in coming
forward. So far, only two aspirants, Mohammed Jibril and Mohammed Ali have
braved the odds by making their intention public, while the incumbent, Idris
Wada has kept sealed lips on a possible return.
However, the recent endorsement by the revered Kogi
PDP Elders Council of the governor for another term in office has opened the
lid of the so far hushed ambition. And understandably, the action of the PDP
Elders Council, peopled by the hitherto deciders of the power equation in the
state, has drawn the ire of the opposition APC and some power shift
progenitors. The elders who endorsed Wada include former PDP national
chairman, Senator Ahmadu Ali, ex-governor Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, one time chief
of army staff, General Salihu Ibrahim (rtd), former minister of police affairs,
Gen David Jemibewon (rtd), Senator Tunde Ogbeha, former deputy chief of staff
in the presidency, Prince Olushola Akanmode, former deputy governors, Chief Sam
Akande and Chief Patrick Adaba and a one-time deputy governor of old Benue
State, Alhaji Sule Iyaji.
Others are Amb. Usman Bello, Arc Gabriel Aduku,
Prof Olu Akerejola, Dr (Mrs.) Grace Gunwa, Hajiya Ladi Ibrahim, Alhaji
Abdullahi Ohioma, Chief Joe Agada and former SSG, Chief Shola Ojo among others.
Ali, Ogbeha, Jemibewon and a few others unseated
Prince Audu and ensured that he never tasted power again for 12 years running.
In his stead, a rather obscure Ibrahim Idris was foisted on the state in a move
analysts believe was aimed at ridiculing Audu out of power at all cost. The
elders frustrated the prince’s every move to return through elections. However,
he succeeded in invalidating Ibrahim Idris at the tribunal on October 10, 2007
and the appeal court in February 2008, but that was how far Audu could go since
he lost power in 2003 as his ultimate dream of returning to Lugard House was
never realised.
Fortune, however, seems to have smile on Audu
during the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections when the
Buhari tsunami swept across the state. APC’s President Muhammadu Buhari did not
only defeat former president Goodluck Jonathan, the party also won six federal
constituency seats against PDP’s three. And as the leader of the APC in the
state, Audu naturally takes credit for the party’s feat in that election. The
party, as it were, has now become synonymous with him and he sees this as an
opportunity to re-launch his ambition of returning to the hot seat.
The Prince has since stepped out for the race, but
standing between him and his ambition are an army of other contenders among his
own party men and, of course those of the ruling PDP in the state.
Analysts believe that the greatest threat to the
former governor’s ambition lies within his party. Apart from the array of
aspirants he has to contend with, internal wrangling, occasioned by the outcome
of the last primaries, has split the party into various camps, with some openly
challenging his claim to its leadership. Vocal among these groups are the All
Progressives Elders Vanguard and All Progressives Stakeholders, which
separately petitioned the national leadership, accusing Audu for the party’s
dismal performance at the state assembly election in the state.
In what analysts said was a turnaround from the
March 28 elections, the PDP defeated the APC in the April 11 state assembly
election, winning 14 seats against 11. The stakeholders and the vanguard blamed
the sudden downturn on Audu and called not only for his removal as a leader,
but a total over hauling of the party ahead of the governorship election. The
agitation for his removal as the party’s leader, along with the executive of
the party, intensified following his open declaration to contest for the
governorship seat in the coming election.
Ahmed Kokori, the leader of Kogi APC stakeholders,
at a press conference recently in Abuja, warned the national leadership on the
consequence of ignoring the group’s request, that the former governor should
shelve his ambition and allow internal democracy to prevail in the party.
“We are advising the national secretariat not to
field the former governor as its governorship candidate, as doing so will have
a disastrous consequence on the party during the election.
“The former governor has become a liability
politically, and he is responsible for the party’s misfortune during the state
assembly election in the state,” he alleged.
http://www.kogireports.com/kogigovrace-between-apcs-audu-pdp-elders/
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