The struggle for who gets the ticket of the ruling party in has continued ahead of the governorship elections coming up in some states in Nigeria.
The contest for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State is going to be a very tough one based on the kind of drama playing out.
The Governor of the state, Yahaya Bello, had declared his intention to contest for second term in office.
However, the APC Aspirants’ Forum, Kogi Chapter, on Monday rejected the candidature of Governor Bello for a second term in office over alleged bad leadership and non-performance. According to PM News, this was made known in a communique issued by the forum at the end of its meeting on Monday in Abuja.
The communique signed by its chairman, Mr Ben Adaji, appealed to Mr Adams Oshiomole, the national chairman of APC and its National Working Committee (NWC) not to give the governorship ticket to Bello. It added that giving the ticket to Bello to run for a second term would be a risk, saying the party may loose the state to the opposition.
It said Bello had remained adamant in spite directives by President Muhammadu Buhari to all APC governors to reconcile and accommodate the party’s aspirants after the last primaries. The communique alleged that Gov. Bello had continued to treat Kogi aspirants as enemies and second class citizens in the party they laboured for.
It said the forum had therefore resolved to mobilise and support one of its members to contest the forthcoming primaries and the subsequent governorship election slated for November. It added that after much deliberations and debate, the forum nominated three of its members which included: Alhaji Yahaya Audu, Dr Chief Adedoyin, and Dr Toyin Akanle for the contest.
“At the end of the deliberations, Alhaji Yahaya Audu was unanimously endorsed to contest the forthcoming Kogi Governorship Election,” the communique said.
The forum used the opportunity to pledge unalloyed support for the President Buhari administration.
Governor Bello had while debunking the reports that he was planning to defect from the APC insisted that he remained in the party and was confident of flying the party’s flag in realising his second term ambition.
There have been kicks against the Governor by some members of the ruling APC in the state. But, Governor Bello maintained that he helped to rebuild the APC and would not be bothered by what some people are doing to distract him. He said he was not bothered as he would emerge the flagbearer of the APC at the end of the day.
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