Once the candidates for the controversial Kogi State governorship election emerged from the primaries of the two main political parties – the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, most analysts concluded that cruel fate had foisted two irredeemably horrible choices on Kogites.
The first was the incumbent, PDP’s candidate, Governor Idris Wada, whose legacy of incompetence and poor performance goes before him within and outside the state. In 2011, there was no credible alternative to the PDP in terms of ability to strongly compete for power both in Kogi and at the federal level. Former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, forced the candidacy of Captain Wada(who is said to be maritally connected to him) on his party. The power and glory of the PDP was still enough to push through Captain Wada, even though Alhaji Abubakar Audu, who recently suddenly assumed the image of a returnee “messiah” under the Muhammadu Buhari high tide, was in the race that time.
Since Wada took over, goodness knows how many times he escaped death in road crashes as a result of the beastly misuse of the highways by his convoys. And only goodness can tell the exact number of innocent people his murderous convoys dispatched to their early graves. Under Wada, government workers were owed many months salaries, and often had to make do with part payments. And so, when the Governors Forum begged President Muhammadu Buhari for a bailout loan, Kogi tabled the highest amount: N50.8 billion! The nearest to it were Imo: N26.8 billion and Oyo: N26.6 billion.
The APC Federal Government saw an opportunity to snatch Kogi from PDP and decided to withhold Kogi’s share of the bailout fund even though Wada swore that the state had met all the conditions demanded by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The APC Federal Government believed that N50 billion in Wada’s pocket at this time of election would be a political windfall which would never be used for to pay workers’ salaries. By withholding it, workers would be forced to vote against Wada, and once an APC governor took over, the bailout would be released. It seemed the calculation worked, in view of the outcome of the election before it was incompetently declared as “inconclusive” by Professor Mahmmod Yakubu’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The second choice was Abubakar Audu, a former elected governor of the state. Many Kogi indigenes are convinced that, in spite of everything, Audu performed creditably when he ran the state in 1999 – 2003 as an All Peoples Party, APP, governor. At least, he was able to establish that reputation, which was what helped him to become a front runner against an incumbent. But Audu was a low-ball politician, if ever there was any. Samplers: When his wife gave birth to a baby in 2002, Audu’s court jesters and prebendarians were encouraged to congratulate “Baby Excellency” with radio adverts! Why not? If Abia State could have “Mother Excellency” in the person of Mrs Eunice Kalu, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu’s mother when he was in power, why not “Baby Excellency”? Laugh out loud!
During the campaigns, Audu asked directed supporters to “kill PDP thugs”. Beware of what you wish your enemy. It might get you first!
On a more serious note, Audu was also rumoured to have filched the hefty sum of N11 billion from the treasury of Kogi State when he was the governor. I don’t know if the figure is correct, but it is not a hidden story. The funniest part of it all was that the Kogi State Chairman of the APC, Mr Hadi Ametuo, was sensationally quoted as promising that Audu would return the money to the treasury with interest if elected! Here are the words credited to Ametuo (widely publicised and yet to be refuted):
“Nobody is a saint. No governor can claim he has not done any malpractice or stolen anything during his time in the office. We heard of Saraki’s case, even Tinubu is being accused of stealing funds but the truth is that Prince Abubakar Audu has pledged to return the money to the Kogi treasury when he gets elected on the November 21st, yes he will return the N11 billion or even more than that and that will add to the Kogi economy”.
What do you do when you wind up having candidates with these humongous moral burdens? As Nigerians usually say: “Only God will save us!”
If Audu had remained alive, nothing was going to stop him from climbing into that coveted seat again. In my opinion, he won that election and should have been declared the winner. I don’t know what came over INEC to declare it as “inconclusive”. Was this “God” at work? Shortly after that, Audu died! Still, “God” at work? Whoever was at work solved Kogites’ problem. Neither Audu nor Wada will be governor. Don’t mind the PDP’s claim that Audu’s death means Wada is now the winner. How can you give the people’s mandate to someone they did not vote for? Someone they actually shunned?
So, what lies ahead? I don’t know. I’m sure you don’t. No one knows. But everyone has gone to court to ask for favours. So, between Wada, Faleke and APC’s new romance, Yahaya Bello, who is likely to laugh last? I do not have crystal balls and I don’t believe in them. But a small bird is whispering in my ear that Faleke will laugh last. This bird is to me like Octopus Paul. You don’t know him? Google it!
As I look at Faleke, I am seeing a re-enactment of the Rotimi Amaechi scenario. The APC has dumped Faleke for Bello to stand and benefit from Audu’s votes leaving out Faleke who was on the ticket with Audu. Bello may enter Lugard House, but how long will he there?
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