One of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state, Prince Mustapha Muna Audu, has faulted the visit to President Muhammadu Buhari by some traditional rulers, saying both the President and the monarchs can not assure governor Yahaya Bello of his re-election.
Muna Audu who is the son of late Prince Abubakar Audu, declared that he will emerge victorious both at the primary of the APC and at the general election.
At a news conference Thursday in Abuja to unveil the Kogi Prosperity Plan, his own developmental blueprint as a governorship aspirant, Audu whose father, Prince Abubakar Audu was on the verge of winning the governorship election in 2015 before dying in the process, equally berated the traditional rulers who accompanied the governor on the visit, describing what transpired at the Villa as “poverty on display”.
While he described Kogi state as Nigeria’s new metaphor for everything bad and ugly, Audu said the traditional rulers by going cap in hand to beg the president to support Bello’s reelection have betrayed the confidence of their subjects who are of different political tendencies and affiliations.
“What we saw, to be honest was a display of poverty. The traditional rulers have no business going to the president to seek support or to reintroduce the Governor to him. That was not necessary. We do not believe that the traditional rulers who were at the Villa yesterday (Wednesday) are representatives of our people or Kogi state. That is the truth and we have to be honest with ourselves. These rulers are setting a very bad example. These rulers are showing us that their pockets are more important than their people. Kogi is a state where civil servants are committing suicide. People are putting ropes round their necks and dying. So, it is better for our traditional rulers to try and go back home and alleviate the plight of the people. Bello should stop running to the president or from pillar to post because it is not the president that will save him”, he declared.
While berating Gov. Bello for spending most of his time idling away in Abuja instead of attending to governance issues in the state, Audu said the governor has become more like the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, rather than the chief executive of Kogi state.
“Please go back home and work. Leave Abuja. You are not the Minister of FCT. You are the Governor of Kogi state. Face Kogi and work. The road from here to Kogi is am eyesore and the excuse they give is that it is a federal road. Kogi is today the dirtiest state in the country. If you cannot work, just leave and we will accept you. We are not after anyone. Kogi is at a tipping point. We must not lose Kogi state. We must put our best foot forward. We are ready to forgive the governor and carry him along because he is our constituent but he can no longer be governor because he is ill-prepared”, he said.
Audu also restated the earlier position of some stakeholders of the party in the state on the mode of primary election for picking the party’s candidate, saying majority of party members and stakeholders want direct primaries.
He said; “What we want is direct primaries. We do not only look forward to meeting the governor at the direct primary election but to defeating him. We are ready to extend the olive branch to him, draw the line and see the past as a learning curve”, he added.
At a news conference Thursday in Abuja to unveil the Kogi Prosperity Plan, his own developmental blueprint as a governorship aspirant, Audu whose father, Prince Abubakar Audu was on the verge of winning the governorship election in 2015 before dying in the process, equally berated the traditional rulers who accompanied the governor on the visit, describing what transpired at the Villa as “poverty on display”.
While he described Kogi state as Nigeria’s new metaphor for everything bad and ugly, Audu said the traditional rulers by going cap in hand to beg the president to support Bello’s reelection have betrayed the confidence of their subjects who are of different political tendencies and affiliations.
“What we saw, to be honest was a display of poverty. The traditional rulers have no business going to the president to seek support or to reintroduce the Governor to him. That was not necessary. We do not believe that the traditional rulers who were at the Villa yesterday (Wednesday) are representatives of our people or Kogi state. That is the truth and we have to be honest with ourselves. These rulers are setting a very bad example. These rulers are showing us that their pockets are more important than their people. Kogi is a state where civil servants are committing suicide. People are putting ropes round their necks and dying. So, it is better for our traditional rulers to try and go back home and alleviate the plight of the people. Bello should stop running to the president or from pillar to post because it is not the president that will save him”, he declared.
While berating Gov. Bello for spending most of his time idling away in Abuja instead of attending to governance issues in the state, Audu said the governor has become more like the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, rather than the chief executive of Kogi state.
“Please go back home and work. Leave Abuja. You are not the Minister of FCT. You are the Governor of Kogi state. Face Kogi and work. The road from here to Kogi is am eyesore and the excuse they give is that it is a federal road. Kogi is today the dirtiest state in the country. If you cannot work, just leave and we will accept you. We are not after anyone. Kogi is at a tipping point. We must not lose Kogi state. We must put our best foot forward. We are ready to forgive the governor and carry him along because he is our constituent but he can no longer be governor because he is ill-prepared”, he said.
Audu also restated the earlier position of some stakeholders of the party in the state on the mode of primary election for picking the party’s candidate, saying majority of party members and stakeholders want direct primaries.
He said; “What we want is direct primaries. We do not only look forward to meeting the governor at the direct primary election but to defeating him. We are ready to extend the olive branch to him, draw the line and see the past as a learning curve”, he added.