Ahead of the November 16 governorship election in Kogi state, Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is fighting many battles in a quest to retain his seat; TOPE SUNDAY writes.
As Kogi state governorship election draws closer, the governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who is a member of the governing APC, is receiving punches from all the aspirants from his party and the opposition parties led by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Also, there seems to be a gang-up against his second term aspiration by some aspirants within the state, with his battle with his deputy, Simon Achuba, being one of the fiercest.
The gang-up
In a bid up to the November 16 contest, it appears that the indigenes of Kogi-east Senatorial district of the state, which has the highest number of local government areas, are ganging up against the governor, who is an Ebira man from Kogi-central Senatorial district. Kogi-east is the zone where the Igala people hail from and the zone has a total of nine local government areas, namely: Anka, Bassa, Dekina, Igalamela/Odofu, Ofu, Olamaboro, Omala, and Idah.
A breakdown of the number of those who had so far indicated their interest to run for governor shows that the large chunk of them is from the Kogi-east.
A further breakdown of the aspirants’ senatorial district reveals that three aspirants from Kogi-central have shown the interest. They are the incumbent governor, Bello (APC), Ms. Natasha Akpoti of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Mr Bayo Adobanyi of the PDP.
In Kogi-west, Senator Dino Melaye is the only one who has so far declared his intention to run from the zone.
From Kogi-east, no fewer than 25 aspirants from both the APC and PDP have indicated their interest to run. In APC, the likes of Dr Tim Nda Diche, Alhaji Sanni Abdullahi Lulu, and the former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Jibrin Usman, are in the race. Also, the former group head, Communications of Zenith Bank, Dr Victor Adoji; former northern regional manager of Nigerian Breweries, Alhaji Muhammed Shaibu Tettes; AVM Saliu Atanwodi; Alhaji Abubakar Idris; Captain Idris Wada, and others are gunning for the PDP’s platform.
To this end, Kogi-east Elders Council (KEEC) led by a former national chairman of the PDP, Senator Ahmadu Ali, has reportedly pruned the number of aspirants from the zone to one and zeroed in on AVM Saliu Atawodi.
Though, the arrangement did not go down well with some of the aspirants, Blueprint Weekend gathered that the gesture was to ease the incumbent governor out of office considering the voting strength of the zone.
Speaking with this reporter, one of the PDP governorship aspirants, Alhaji Muhammed Shuiab Tettes, said, “I have said it many times that this race is not about me. I am presenting myself to offer service to the people of Kogi state.  People of Kogi state should not vote for Mohammed Shuiabu Adah Tettes, they should vote for development, security, peace, quality education, good health facilities.
“These are what they should vote for, and if they see this in me, they should go ahead and vote for me. But if they see that in another person, so be it. As much as possible, we try to tell the people what we are and what we can do.
“If whatever reason, PDP says Muhammed you are not as good as this man, and the majority of the people say you are not as good as this man, I will stay off.”
Also, another PDP governorship aspirant from Kogi-east, Dr Victor Adoji, an ex-banker, said he is committed to sending the governor packing.
When asked what he would do if he does not get the party’s ticket, he said: “The Kogi governorship election is an amalgam of what PDP is offering and the person wearing the party’s flag. If for any reason and in an unlikely situation, that I don’t clinch the party’s ticket, then my primary concern will kick in. My primary concern is to make sure that the current maladministration in Kogi state stops.
“And the ambassador of the administration is Yahaya Bello, and my primary objective is to make sure that he is not in the office by November 16. If I will not be in charge, I can more than assure you I will be a supporting attacker to somebody who is leading the contest.”
The APC aspirants’ grouse
The APC in the state appears to be in disarray following the agitations by some of its aspirants that the party should adopt direct primaries to choose who flies its ticket in the November election.
Recently, protests rocked the national secretariat of the party in Abuja when 20 governorship aspirants under the aegis of Kogi State APC Governorship Aspirants Forum stormed the secretariat.
They expressed their displeasure at the indirect primaries adopted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party for the November poll.
The spokesperson for the forum, Mohammed Ali, said: “The planned adoption of the indirect party primary is inherent with serious negative consequences for the fortune of the party in Kogi state. We regret to observe that such decision was taken without adequate consultation with critical stakeholders of the party in the state, especially the governorship aspirants on the platform of the party and other contending groups in the polarised structure of the party in the state.
“The decision to adopt indirect primaries by the National Working Committee is fraught with severe implications. First, contrary to the information given to the National Working Committee, there is a suit pending in Abuja court seeking to determine the authentic executive of the party in the state.”
He also said, “As a matter of fact, at the last hearing, the suit was adjourned till October 2, 2019. Second, arising from the pendency of the various suits to determine the legitimate party executive council in the state, the use of any factional delegate list may amount to an exercise in futility.
“And lastly, we may have unconsciously set booby-traps for our party and the stage for the replay of the unfortunate Zamfara scenario.”
While the governor is bent on conducting indirect primaries, some stakeholders within the party have sued the NWC over the adoption of indirect primaries for the selection of the candidate for the November 16 battle.
In the Originating Summons filed by their lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the plaintiffs are asking the court to halt the indirect primaries proposed by the NWC.
The plaintiffs, who are members of Haddy Ametuo-led faction, are the ex-officio, Destiny Eneojoh Aromeh; organising secretary, Mr. Isah Abubakar; zonal youth leader, Noah Aku, and zonal women leader, Mrs. Joy Onu.
The stakeholders in the notification of suit Number: FHC/ABJ/CS/833/2019-Destiny Eneojoh Aromeh & Ors Vs All Progressives Congress sent to the APC National Legal Adviser, Babatunde Ogala, prayed him to advise the party on the need to respect court processes and halt any action on the proposed indirect primary.
Among issues formulated for determination in the suit are whether having regard to the pendency of suit filed by Haddy Ametuo, Salam Adejoh (suing for themselves and on behalf of other members) of the SEC elected on May 19, 2018, the APC can adopt indirect primaries.
Whether the involvement of persons claiming to be members of the Kogi SEC during the pendency of the suit in the nomination of the governorship candidate would not amount to interference with the judicial process and run against the principle of subjudice which would render the outcome of such primary illegal, null and void.
Whether or not the defendant can ignore the suit, which seeks to determine the authentic members of the Kogi SEC, as well as who constitutes the delegates by adopting the indirect mode of primaries remains to be seen.
Bello and his deputy’s face-off
For months, Governor Bello and his deputy, Achuba, had a very cold relationship, but they kept it out of the public unit late July when Mr Femi Falana asked the governor to pay his deputy the sum of N819, 709,980 within seven days or risked legal action.
Falana’s action exposed the secret that had been kept and hidden from the public for months. According to the pre-action notice signed the senior lawyer, the sum is the accumulated statutory allocations which include travel allowances, hotel bills, pledges, and outstanding monthly impress and salaries which has been withheld from Achuba’s office for the past two years.
In the letter, dated July 17, 2019, Chief Achuba accused Governor Bello of consistently refusing to give approval for the release of funds for the smooth running of his office.
“In particular, the statutory allocations approved for the office of the Deputy Governor have been withheld by the State Government since 2017. In particular, the statutory allocations approved for the office of the Deputy Governor have been withheld by the state government since 2017,” the notice read in part.
But the governor, who reacted through his spokesperson, Kingsley Fanwo, dismissed his deputy’s claims that he is being owed over N800 million and challenged him to head to court if he believes he has a case.
“The salaries of the deputy governor have not been stopped at any time since he became the deputy governor in Kogi state.
“The sum of N786, 427,480 (Seven Hundred and Eighty Six Million, Four Hundred and Twenty Seven, Four Hundred and Eighty Naira) of the outrageous N819, 709,980 (Eight Hundred and Nineteen Million, Seven Hundred and Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Eighty Naira Only) claimed by the deputy governor have not been approved let alone processed for payment by the government.
“The deputy governor is aware that by virtue of extant financial regulations, even where expenditures are provided for in the budget, they are still subject to approvals based on an estimation that funds to defray will be available; and where they are approved, the release of such funds still depends on the availability of funds.
“The deputy governor is also aware that those expenditures may not be approved or that lesser sums may be approved based on the availability of funds.
“The claims of the deputy governor in this regard are therefore premature and mischievous,” Fanwo stated.
While this was going on, the House of Assembly initiated impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor.
The majority leader, Abdullahi Bello, read a petition against Achuba during plenary last week.
The petition, signed by 21 out of the 25 members, expressed displeasure with Achuba’s recent conduct against the state government whom the deputy governor accused of financial misappropriation, non-performance, and other crimes.
“It is our belief that these actions and utterances of the deputy governor amounts to gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office,” the petition read.
Citing section 188 of the 1999 Constitution, Bello called on the House to commence an investigation into the allegations ahead of a possible impeachment.
The speaker, Kolawole Matthew, agreed to the request of the petition and directed that Achuba be served an impeachment notice. The deputy governor will have two weeks to respond to the allegations against him.
As it stands, the fate of the embattled governor is hanging in the air, and if the House goes ahead with the planned impeachment, the deputy governor is a goner.
‘My principal has a chance’
In a recent chat with our correspondent, the spokesperson to the governor, Mr Kinsley Fanwo, said his boss had done well to be re-elected, adding that the governor met a messy situation in the state when he came on board.
He said, “Kogi was in a mess in terms of administration and development before his Excellency took over in January 2016. It was the kidnap capital of Nigeria; other violent crimes were being perpetrated across the state. It was a very tough one, but as he was coming to manage a very difficult state and a very difficult situation, he was prepared to salvage the situation.
“He came with a blueprint known as the new direction movement and the blueprint is targeted at reviving education, health care, infrastructure development, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. So far, it has been a huge success as far as Kogi state is concerned today. Today, the state has moved from being the second most endangered state, to the second most peaceful state in the federation, according to the Bureau of Statistics.
“It shows that something drastic and pragmatic have been done to achieve such a very huge feat in the area of agriculture. We’ve done very well in planning for farmers across the state. We intend to do mechanised farming across the state and the second biggest rice mill has also been built by this administration.”
He further said, “It is going to be commissioned this month and it is 98% completed and we hope that after the commissioning by the president we will start production of 100 tons of rice per day. The capacity in the mill is times two of what is obtainable in other mills with an installed power. We intend to have a stage, which we will give power to neighbouring communities free.
“The governor has done well with little funds allocated to him, and he has covered a wide area of the economy. He is making sure we reform the civil service in the state that was in a rough anthill which needed a new touch; hence, we have installed a data base to help us manage the situation. He has done tremendously well to the point that his opposition are going down.”
Source: Blueprint