After months of political horse-trading and intrigues amongst political gladiators, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has emerged the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 Governorship election.
Gov. Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State said Bello emerged winner of the governorship ticket by polling 3,091 votes to beat nine other aspirants who contested the governorship primaries conducted by the party in Lokoja.
Badaru, who led the electoral panel that conducted the process, announced that Mr. Babatunde Irukera came second with 109 votes; while Rep. Hassan Baiwa came third with 44 votes. Yahaya Audu, the younger brother of former Governor Abubakar Audu, scored 10 votes; Sani Abdullahi polled seven votes, and Abubakar Bashir got three votes.
Gov. Badaru also said that Mrs. Blessing Ekele, Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim, Mr. Yakubu Mohammed and Mr. Danlami Mohammed scored zero votes.
Speaking to journalists after he was declared winner, Governor Bello thanked the delegates for the confidence reposed in him to fly the party’s flag in the November 16 election, assuring he would do them proud by coasting home to victory for the party.
Bello congratulated all aspirants that contested the primary election with him and urged them to join hands with him to deliver the party in the November governorship election.
Meanwhile, some of the aspirants have raised concerns over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the primaries.
Earlier during voting, one of the aspirants, who is a member representing Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency, Hassan Abdullahi, complained about the manner delegates were being assisted to write names of their preferred candidates in the ballot.
Abdullahi approached the electoral officials to raise the observation, a development which led to some arguments.
Daily Trust reports that an aggrieved Hassan Abdullahi staged a walk out from the primary election venue following the development.
In a similar vein, one of the aspirants who challenged Bello for the ticket, Yakubu Mohammed, described the processes that produced the governor as candidate of the party as “mockery,” saying the national headquarters of the party should cancel the primary election and organize another one.
Yakubu said “We were not given the list of delegates; we were also not given clearance certificate to show that we would be part of the process. This is a disgrace to Kogi State.
“In fact, there was no communication between the national headquarters of the party and the aspirants; we have never had it so low in Kogi. They earlier disqualified some of us, then they said they have qualified some of us to contest.
“We came for the election but the delegates were denied opportunity to cast their votes; it is somebody who will cast the vote for you. They all cast the votes for Bello,” he said.
Initially, twelve aspirants were disqualified for various reasons. However, following the complaints and protests that greeted the outcome of the screening exercise, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC cleared six more aspirants bringing the total number to 10.
But not satisfied with his disqualification from the primary, one of the aspirants, Mona Muhammed Audu has sued the party and its National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Audu, who filed the case at the High Court in Lokoja, also joined the chairman of the party’s governorship primary election screening committee, Sen. Hope Uzodinma and INEC.
Audu prayed the court for a declaration that the exclusion of his name from the governorship aspirants was a breach of his right to fair hearing and that the action was unconstitutional, null and void.
Although, Governor Yahaya Bello after his emergence, urged all other aspirants to join hands with him, it is still not clear what their reactions to that ‘olive branch’ would be.
In the meantime, Bello and his supporters across the state are still jubilating and savouring the euphoria of their victory at the primary election.
