Kogi APC Aspirants Forum adopts Audu as its candidate saying Bello did not perform in office

MEMBERS of the Kogi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Aspirants Forum have rejected the candidature of Governor Yahaya Bello for a second term in office over what they described as bad leadership and non-performance.

Currently the youngest chief executive in Nigeria, Governor Bello assumed office in January 2016 and in November this year, fresh elections will hold. Despite his tender age of 43, Governor Bello has not been the dynamic and vibrant governor Kogians had expected as he owes months of salary arrears, lives in the federal capital Abuja and is seldom in the state to address the concerns of local people.

Nigeria's National Independent Electoral Commission (Inec) plans to hold elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states on November 2 and Governor Bello has already launched his re-election campaign. However, the governor's re-election campaign has been fiercely opposed by several pressure groups in Kogi State who lament the fact that he owed 36 months' salary arrears and has not completed any infrastructural projects.

Yesterday, the APC Aspirants Forum appealed to national party chairman Adams Oshiomhole and the national working committee (NWC) not to give the governorship ticket to Governor Bello. In a communique signed by its chairman Ben Adaji, the forum said that giving the ticket to Governor Bello to run for a second term would be a risk, as the party may lose the state to the opposition.

It added that Governor 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. According to the forum, Governor Bello had continued to treat Kogi aspirants as enemies and second class citizens in the party they laboured for.

As a result, the forum has resolved to mobilise and support one of its members to contest the forthcoming primaries and the subsequent governorship elections slated for November. After considering three candidates including Alhaji Yahaya Audu, Chief Adedoyin and Dr Toyin Akanle, the forum opted for Alhaji Audu.

“At the end of the deliberations, Alhaji Yahaya Audu was unanimously endorsed to contest the forthcoming Kogi Governorship Election,” the communique said. The forum also used the opportunity to pledge its unalloyed support for the President Buhari administration.