by Kingsley Fanwo
LOKOJA—Ahead of the November 21 governorship poll in Kogi State, the three main political parties in the state have intensified campaign to outwit one another.
While the two main gladiators in the contest are the APC and PDP, Labour Party, which is fielding another formidable candidate in the person of Dr. Philips Salawu, has also emerged as a major contender.
Wada-and-Audu
The PDP and APC are the two major parties with structures across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state with neck to neck chances of winning next month’s governorship election. Labour Party and APGA are seen as underdogs in the contest.
With a successful outing in Anyigba, APC has shown a clear intent of taking over the 1914 Lugard House come January 2016. The turn-out of supporters at the rally was quite instructive and might have sent the right signals to the powers that be in the state that the election would not be a walk over for the incumbent. Anyigba is located in Dekina Local Government Area, the local government of the incumbent governor and candidate of the PDP, Capt. Idris Wada.
But before the dust of the Anyigba rally could settle, PDP also pulled a masterstroke of their own by welcoming over 10,000 defectors from the All Progressives Congress in Ofu Local Government Area, the home front of Prince Abubakar Audu.
The defectors submitted their membership cards and resignation letters to APC along with their leader, Ajeka Baba.
Speaking at the event, Baba said their action was moved by the desire to support a governor that had laid the foundation for a truly democratic and developed Kogi State.
He promised PDP that more defectors were expected in the coming days as the party was set to defeat APC in the local government area.
This, coming from the political enclave of Prince Abubakar Audu, may be a tall dream, as Audu is a veteran politician who knows his onions.
But the signals showed that all is not well in the local government of the APC candidate.
Pundits are of the view that the support given Audu by the former Majority Leader of the House of Assembly, Yinusa Yakubu, might swing the pendulum in APC’s favour in the area.
Yakubu Yinusa is known to be a grassroots politician in the area.
With the PDP governorship campaign set to roll out this week, APC is already ahead, having visited Anyigba and Kabba for rallies.
It was unclear why APC cancelled its campaign in Okene, but sources informed Vanguard that it might be in connection with the Yahaya Bello factor as many Ebira people believed that it was Audu who aborted their dream of producing the next governor of the state.
However, facts have emerged that the postponement of the flag off of campaign in Lokoja showed some frictions within the APC.
A reliable source who is a member of the National Working Committee said the party was still battling with the legality of Audu’s candidature.
“We received a petition challenging the illegality of Audu’s candidature. It was a very strong petition that we cannot discountenance.
“We have set up a panel to look at the petition and submit its report for our consideration. What we want to achieve is to avoid post-election litigations which may affect the party. We want all our leaders to be on the same page in order to achieve victory in the state,” he said.
Rubbishing rumours of Audu’s possible disqualification, a member of the APC candidate’s media team who craved anonymity, said it was only a court decision that could strip Audu of the ticket.
He said: “I am not aware of such plans. As far as we are concerned, there is no debate on the candidature of Prince Abubakar Audu. What we should be debating now is whether to re-elect a failed governor or bring back the Messiah of the Kogi people.”
Sources within the ruling PDP have said the campaign tour of the governor would also provide a platform for commissioning of completed projects and programmes of Wada’s Administration.
It was believed that the governor placed little premium on high tone project commissioning.
Kogi State APC Publicity Secretary, Prince Bode Ogunmola, told Vanguard that the PDP campaign tour would be used as a celebration of the achievements of the governor in the last three and a half years.
“Our campaign is going to be unique in the sense that we hope to use it to showcase the laudable achievements of the governor.
“It will also afford us to assess the extent of work on the ongoing projects across the state. We urge our supporters to remain steadfast and peaceful as we are sure of a resounding victory on November 21,” Ogunmola said.
In a related development, the candidate of labour Party, Dr. Philips Salawu, has been receiving endorsements across the state, the recent being the endorsement by Okun Computer Engineers Association, led by Engr. Emmanuel Owotunse. The association said it was impressed by the plan of the governorship candidate to revolutionize computer education in the state, saying it would mobilize its members across the five local government areas of Okunland to vote massively for him
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