The battle for the Kogi state governorship contest in November has began in earnest as no fewer than 27 aspirants under the canopy of All Progressives Congress (APC) have so far obtained the party’s expression of interest forms from the national secretariat in Abuja. Screening of the aspirants has been scheduled to begin tomorrow, Monday.
With the number of aspirants, the party is believed to have had raked in N148 million from the sales of the expression of interest forms, which costs N5.5 million each.
The aspirants include a former Kogi State Governor, Abubakar Audu; James Ocholi (SAN), Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Senator Nicholas Ugbane, Sani Shuaibu, Suleiman Baba Ali, Air Vice Marshall Saliu Atawodi, Muhammad Abdullahi, Senator Nuruddeen Usman, and Hajiya Hadiza Ibrahim.
They also include the veteran journalist and one of the founding fathers of Newswatch Magazine, Yakubu Muhammad, Chief Clarence Olafemi, Suleiman Abutu, Sunday Ejibo, Suleiman Ipinmisho, and Dr. Tim Diche.
Others are Habeeb Yakeen, Rotimi Obadofin, Babatunde Irukera, Olusola Oluwaranti, Dr. Onukaba Adinoyi, Aliyu Zakari, Senator Alex Kadiri, Alhaji Abubakar Umar, Idris Kashim and Dr. Sanusi Abubakar.
One of the aspirants, Shuaibu, while addressing journalists in Abuja, said the Igala axis of Kogi State should not be blamed for the underdevelopment of the state.
He said it was incumbent on the citizenry of the state to vote into power persons with the exposure and competence, who could rescue the state from its pitiable state.
“Kogi state is backward today not because it doesn’t have the right calibre of persons to take it out of the woods. I have heard a section of our citizenry say the problem lies with power shift; that the state is backward because my Igala people have been administering it without tangible results for all to see.
“I beg to differ on this proposition. For me, such talk is a creation of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP has a hand in the backwardness of the state because for the past 12 years, it has produced the governors that brought the state to its knees.” [myad]
