Kogi APC Gov Primary A Sham, Fresh Election Must Be Conducted — Audu

One of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, Shuaibu Audu, has described as a “sham”, the primary that produced Governor Yahaya Bello’s ally, Usman Ododo, as the APC candidate for the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in the state.

He, therefore, demanded that a fresh primary be conducted.

He said he does not have personal issues with the the governor but have issues with the way he handled the process through which Ododo emerged as the APC governorship candidate in Kogi.

“What I want is for the election to be cancelled and another primary election be held in accordance with the constitution of our great party, the All Progressives Congress. It is very important for thing to be done properly and things should be done accordingly,” Audu said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.

“I don’t have issues with the governor on a personal note but I have an issue with the way he went about the nomination for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress because there was no election.”

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The son of a former governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, who has now approached the court to seek cancellation of the primary, said that the primary was not held according to the provisions of the party.

He lamented that the governor who has ruled the state for eight years is trying to pass the baton to his cousin who he said is from the same ward and polling unit with the governor.

On April 15, Ododo was declared winner of the APC primary which was conducted via direct mode of election in the 239 wards across the 21 local government areas of Kogi.

Ododo polled 78,704 votes to defeat the six other contestants including Abubakar Audu.

Announcing the outcome of the primary at the State Secretariat of the APC, the Secretary of the National APC Governorship Primary Committee, Patrick Obahiagbon announced 93,729 as total numbers of registered voters while 83,419 represented numbers of accredited voters.

He said Shaibu Audu scored 763 votes; a former Minister of State, Stephen Ochen; polled 552 votes, a former Executive Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Sanusi Ohiare scored 424 votes while the current Senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, Smart Adeyemi scored 311 votes.