gubernatorial screening committee to ensure that it carries out its assignment with
fairness and in strict compliance with the party’s guidelines.
About 22 of the governorship aspirants for the APC ticket monday submitted their
nomination and Expression of Interest forms to the party.
Also monday, one of the governorship aspirants, Mr. James Ocholi, warned the party to
trade with caution over the issue of power shift as it could cost APC victory in the
coming gubernatorial polls. He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) might cash-in
on the agitation over power shift to snatch victory from APC if it is allowed to generate
crisis.
While reading out the guidelines to the committee in Abuja, the National Organising
Secretary of the APC, Senator Osita Izunaso, noted that there was high level of interest
among party members in the state governorship election.
Izunaso told the committee that all aspirants must be duly registered and financially up
to date, adding that five members of the party from different local government areas
must nominate an aspirant to qualify.
He said it is also the responsibility of the screening committee to scrutinise every
certificate brought before them by the aspirants emphasising that any aspirant who
poses an obstacle to the screening of certificates should be immediately disqualified.
“All aspirants must sign the party code of conduct. The screening will be done in line
with the 1999 Constitution as amended. Only the aspirants cleared will go for the
primaries,” the organising secretary said.
According to him, there will also be a separate screening appeal committee for
aspirants who are not satisfied with the work done by the screening committee.
While inaugurating the screening committee, the National Chairman of the APC, Chief
John Oyegun, represented by the Deputy Chairman South, Mr. Segun Oni, assured them
that the screening of the aspirants will be free, fair and transparent.
The state Screening Committee has Mr. Boss Mustapha as Chairman and Lawal Munir
as Secretary. Other members are Hon. Emmanuel Ufuoma, Chief Geoffrey Ufuru, Mrs.
Tina Adike, Mrs. Ekwy Oyindo and Mr. Bashir Sheriff Machina.
However, the state Governor, Capt. Idris Wada, yesterday assured members of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the party would emerge victorious in the
forthcoming governorship election in the state.
The governor made the declaration during an interactive session with journalists in
Lagos, saying he had moved Kogi ahead from where he met it during his tenure, from
all available records.
He maintained that he had touched every sector of the state enough to earn him the
prestigious Hall of Grace (HOG) Award as ‘The Governor of the Year.’ The governor was
on Sunday in Lagos to receive the award.
According the HOG, this year’s edition of the prestigious award was in recognition of
the governor’s unparalleled achievements especially in the area of agriculture, prudent
management of resources and the courage in pursuing the projects initiated by previous
regimes while embarking on new ones.
Reacting to the accusation of non-performance levelled against his administration, Wada
said he did not expect his political opponents to praise him, but quickly dismissed the
accusations that he underperformed in the state since he was elected into office four
years ago.
Wada, who recalled that some of those who contested the last primaries with him and
lost still feel bitter over the incident, however,
The governor refuted the information making the rounds, that the PDP leadership in the
state demanded N1 billion from him in order to support his second term bid.
“Whoever passes out such information is a liar and that is evil machination. In Kogi
State, we don’t have N1 billion, if we have, we will use it for infrastructure development.
I can tell you nobody or the National Working Committee (NWC) demanded such money
from me.”
The governor said the PDP would retain the state in the coming election, noting that the
All Progressives Congress (APC) success in the state during the presidential election
was because of President Muhammadu Buhari whose emergence was a movement.
“Many people wanted change that was why people supported him. It was not because
the PDP was not doing well. In Kogi State, PDP is on ground, we have structures in very
local government and we are confident that by the grace of God, we will win the next
election in the state.”
“In terms of performance PDP in Kogi has done well, we don’t expect our opponents to
praise us anyway. With over 22 cases instituted after the elections, some of them still
in court, even when the election is approaching. They will always find something wrong,
but, when you look at the resources at our disposal, we have done well, to enable us
win the coming election in the state.
We have followed due process; we have things on ground to show for it. The IGR was
increased from N200 million to N550 million, that is over 150 per cent increase, without
increasing taxation burden on the citizens resident in the state.”
The governor explained that the state had kept a low debt profile, noting that all
leakages that would lead to siphoning of public fund had been blocked.
He said the debt profile of the state was within limit, stressing that the state had
overdraft from banks, bonds to recapitalise and make the state better. “We are
sensitive to labour matter, ensure that the workers do not suffer, we introduce electronic
into our financial responsibilities to the people, all to ensure that the state manages the
resources at its disposal properly.”
THISDAY
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