THE All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council in Kogi state has rejected the adoption of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, by the Kogi East Elders Council (KEEC).
The Director-General, APC Campaigns Council, Edward Onoja, in a statement, said the elders had no capacity to speak for the people of Kogi east senatorial district.
Onoja, who is also the Chief of Staff (COS) to the state governor, said the group only rejected President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Yahaya Bello because they have blocked their access to the resources and the public service of the state.
The KEEC, which has as members Ahmadu Ali, Nicholas Ugbane, Gabriel Aduku among others, had last week met and endorsed the candidates of the PDP in the general election, saying Atiku was the best option for the country as the people vote next Saturday.
Onoja, however, said the group did not have the mandate of the Igala/Bassa of Kogi east as the group is populated by PDP members that failed to use their past positions for the development of the state.
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He said the people of Kogi east were committed to the reelection of Buhari and Bello later in the year, saying the APC had positively impacted on the lives of the people who were ready to repay with their votes.
Onoja said: “Everyone knows that these men are the founding fathers and leaders of the PDP, and that they, their families and friends benefitted the most from the 13 and 16 years respectively during which the PDP ran wild in Kogi State and Nigeria, wrecking our social fabric and mismanaging lives and destinies for the living and those yet unborn.
“It is when KEEC lies to the world that the nine local governments of Kogi East have resolved to support the PDP that we must rise up and prove that they lied. We must show that these men are merely PDP operatives still suffering severe pains from the rebuke our people and the rest of Nigeria gave them in 2015.
“They rejected their party’s nemesis, President Muhammadu Buhari because he disconnected them from our public resources and not because of any acts or omissions of Governor Yahaya Bello as they have claimed.
“Their reasons, as usual, do not add up. Even if Governor Bello has offended them by removing their mouths from sucking our blood, should they attack an innocent President Buhari? It shows that their sense of justice remains undeveloped.”
The Kogi COS, however, noted that the KEEC didn’t support Atiku because they think he could improve on anything Buhari had achieved in office, “but because of his well-publicised plans for his friends, those whom he insists are entitled to be enriched with assets taken from the poor and given to the rich.
“The only reason the promoters of KEEC have decided to score an own goal against the Igala and Bassa Kingdoms so late in the ongoing political season is their own selfish interests. But without mincing words, we hereby let them know that we are not fools and that we not only reject their rejection of President Buhari and APC, but we reject them and their PDP party of corruption and confusion.
“This affront is doubly offensive. They have not only lied that we in Kogi East sent them when we have not. They have tried to take Kogi East and Kogi State from the forefront of Mr President’s supporters to the rear.
“In 2015, Kogi State was among the first to embrace Change by booting out the PDP from our Government House. We cannot now take a backseat to anyone in 2019 by going back to swallow our own vomitus.”
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