Why APC won all Kogi assembly seats ― COS

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Kogi State has cleared all the 25 seats in the state house of assembly following the conduct of the supplementary elections in the state on Saturday.

Although the party had during the gubernatorial and state assembly elections cleared all the major seats in the assembly, it had to wait for the rescheduled elections in Lokoja I, Omala and Igalamela/Odolu constituencies where elections were initially declared inconclusive to affirm its dominance of the assembly.

Speaking on the development, the Chief Of Staff (COS) to the state governor, who also doubled as the Director-General, APC Campaign Council, Edward Onoja, said some factors were responsible for the party’s unprecedented success in the state.

He said one of the factors was the determination of the leaders not to impose any candidate on the electorate.

According to him, all the candidates on the platform of the APC were not imposed or gave bribes for endorsement, adding that they went through the primaries and came out as party flagbearers.

Onoja said another critical factor that contributed to the party’s winning streak was the quick resolution of pockets of disputes that came up after the primaries were conducted.

“Those who did not make it at the primaries were quickly engaged in sincere dialogue with the party leadership and they shelved their ambitions, joined the winners of the primaries and worked collectively for the success of the party. This is the principle of everybody is important within the party,” he said.

He added that effective communication between the leadership of the party from top to the bottom was also critical to the party’s success in the last elections.

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The COS said: “In Kogi State, governance and politicking had an unbroken chain of the network from the very top to the unit level where the actions of winning or losing elections take place. We put in place effective networking in a very transparent and open manner. When the leader of the party gives directions, it goes down to the least unit within the party, no one was left behind in the scheme of things.”

He also said the party executives were made up of competent party faithful with proven integrity, saying the “execs of our party in the state are made up of people with proven integrity and capacity that emerged through transparent party congress. So, there are people with commitment and determination to drive the electioneering campaign that has resulted in our victory today.”

The governor’s aide, however, said the most important reason that earned the APC a landslide victory in Kogi was effective leadership that the state government under governor Yahaya Bello is providing for the people.

He leadership of the present administration. Yes, we are not where we want to be but the people believe the government is taking steps in the right direction to improve their well being through the provision of critical infrastructure and they (people) are not ready to return to the old day of ineffective leadership.”

On his part, the state chairman of the party, Hon Abdullahi Bello, said the victory of the APC at the polls was a clear indication that the party was more united, entrenched and more positioned for any electoral contest in the state.

Justifying why the people supported APC and its candidates, the state government believed that the people decided to be on the side of a government that has given them a new lease of life and a departure from what has been happening since the returned to democracy in Nigeria.