Gov Yahaya Bello of Kogi State yesterday emerged as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Nov. 16 Governorship election.
But one of the aspirants who challenged Bello for the ticket described the processes that produced the governor as candidate of the party as “mockery,” saying the national headquarters of the party should cancel the primary election and organize another one.
Gov. Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State said Bello emerged winner of the governorship ticket by polling 3,369 votes to beat eight other aspirants who contested the governorship primaries conducted by the party in Lokoja.
Badaru who led the electoral panel that conducted the process, announced that Mr Babatunde Irukera came second with 109 votes; while Rep. Hassan Bewa came third with 44 votes.
According to him, Yahaya Audu, the younger brother of former Governor Abubakar Audu scored 10 votes, Sani Abdullahi polled seven votes, and Abubakar Bashir got three votes.
Gov. Badaru also said that Mrs Blessing Ekele, Mrs Hadiza Ibrahim, Mr Yakubu Mohammed and Mr Danlami Mohammed scored zero votes.
According to Badaru, 3,596 accredited delegates voted during the primary election out of which 54 votes were declared invalid.
But speaking to Daily Trust, Yakubu Mohammed said what transpired in Lokoja undermined acceptable democratic practice, saying the aspirants were kept in the dark. “We were not given the list of delegates; we were also not given clearance certificate to show that we would be part of the process. This is a disgrace to Kogi State.
“In fact, there was no communication between the national headquarters of the party of the aspirants; we have never have it so low in Kogi. They earlier disqualified some of us, then they said they have qualified some of us to contest. We came for the election but the delegates were denied opportunity to cast their votes; it is somebody who will cast the vote for you. They all cast the votes for Bello,” he said.
Asked if he will go to court, Mohammed said, “I am not going to any court; I will leave them with their shame but the national headquarters should do the needful to save the party.”
