Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja
The All Progressive Congress APC , Kogi State chapter has expressed appreciation to the people of the State for massively voting for the candidate of APC, Ahmed Usman Ododo in the November 11, 2023 governorship poll.
Just as it vowed to defend the mandate the people of the state freely gave to the APC contrary to those making noise about after they were rejected by the electorate .
According to the party, the resounding victory has strengthened the social contract between the All Progressives Congress and the Kogi people. It has also upscaled the onus of responsibility on us to continue to provide first class schools, health institutions, road infrastructure and many others that the current administration in the state has been doing over the past seven years and nine months.
Addressing journalists at a press conference in Lokoja yesterday ,Kingsley Femi Fanwo, who is the Spokesperson/Director of Media and Publicity, Kogi State APC Governorship Campaign Council lauded the electorate believing in APC candidate .
“We salute our party members, especially in Kogi East, where our opponents deployed thugs to deprive our members of their franchise. A member of our party was gunned down in Anyigba for standing his ground to choose the Kogi Agenda over the sectional and divisive agenda of a candidate who had no interest in the state at heart. Yet they went out with the evil narrative of ballot box snatching without providing proof. May his soul continue to rest in perfect peace.
“Every vote we secured in Kogi East represents hundreds of voters who were harassed, injured and even had their houses burnt for their political beliefs. You are the true heroes of democracy. Those who waged terrorism on our democracy out of desperation to make the impossible possible are today moving from one TV Station to another to cry foul and create a contrary impression when unbiased observers from far and wide have described the election as the freest and most peaceful since the creation of Kogi State.
This is the height of desperation to distract our common attention from the heist they committed.
“ To our people in Kogi Central, we thank you for turning out in your thousands to concretise the dominance of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State. The massive turnout is no surprise as we witnessed a mammoth turnout during our Kogi Central rally. The numbers that came out to vote showed the rally crowd wasn’t a ruse. We will be eternally grateful to you. Kogi West Senatorial District also delivered six of the seven Local Government Areas in the District to the All Progressives Congress, despite the fact that three parties fielded candidates from the zone.
“Your turnout and massive support for the All Progressives Congress showed your faith in a united and prosperous state where leaders are elected based on competence rather than ethnic bigotry. Your voices are clear and loud.
“ We thank Mr President for creating a level playing ground for all the candidates. We also thank the leadership of the party and other APC Governors and leaders for rallying behind us to retain one of the most important states in Nigeria in the progressive fold. The Governor-Elect, Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo will not disappoint you all. Governor Yahaya Bello has made it easy for the All Progressives Congress to continue to win elections in Kogi with his heroics in all the sectors of the economy.
“It is laughable for a candidate who claimed to win only in his zone to be crying foul and calling for the cancellation of the results of the areas where he was massively rejected. It is akin to a poor student who scored 20 per cent in a test to call for the cancellation of the 80 per cent he missed to make him score 100 per cent. It is ludicrous, pedestrian, senseless and a dubious attempt to deactivate justice and fairness.
“In the last 48 hours, the social media has been awash with mutilated and manipulated result sheets in favour of the Social Democratic Party where the original results were rewritten by those who are now coming to equity with unclean hands. Their ethnocentric Senior Advocate of Nigeria is already writing essays to convince them to hire him for Tribunal cases.
“Their immediate past experience where the Supreme Court questioned his knowledge of law will be child’s play as we have enough evidence to prove that the ethnic-centered candidate of the Social Democratic Party actually didn’t score as much as was recorded for him at gun point. We will be ready for any litigation.
“Our candidate and now the Governor-elect, Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo won election across the three Senatorial districts while the ethnic agenda candidate claimed to have won in his own Senatorial District alone. He didn’t win any Local Government Area in the West or Central. Ododo won all the Local Government Areas in two of the three Senatorial Districts and went ahead to win one Local Government Area in the East Senatorial District. He would have won more in the East but for the daylight robbery of the Social Democratic Party(SDP) who dangerously attacked members of the APC in the East, leading to the death of one person while many were injured.
“Thugs loyal to the SDP sealed off the homes of many APC chieftains, stopping them from voting. This is a clear crime against democracy. Our agents were attacked and their tags seized and many of them were barred from accessing collation centres. We have documentary evidence to nail the Social Democratic Party as we await the application for justice by the unjust.
“ Listening to Sen. Dino Melaye’s drama on national television is amusing. For the former Senator to claim he has access to the back-end server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is like walking into the prison yard and demanding to be locked up. Security agencies have no tedious job to do on a suspect who confesses to a crime. Dino Melaye has openly confessed that he hacked into the back-end of the INEC. He should be arrested and prosecuted for cyber crime.
“His usual way of blackmailing people in authority hasn’t changed. Personally attacking the INEC chairman and saying his children should be ashamed of him is uncalled for, unethical and immoral. Are Dino Melaye’s children proud of his shameless physical combats on the floor of the National Assembly? Are his children proud of the fact that their mother levelled allegations of physical injuries against their father? Are Dino’s children proud of him? Dino Melaye was never in the race for the Governorship. The perennial contestant was in it for business and we do not see his allegations as anything more than the ranting of a thoroughly rejected political jobber.
“We can’t beat a child and expect him not to cry. But we will be magnanimous in victory. Someone who claimed to have boycotted an election is here complaining about the conduct. He was not even at his Polling Unit to vote. How he got over 40,000 votes should be probed.
“We call on our members to celebrate with moderation. We are one people and we must remain united as a people. The results of the election has shown that it is our party alone that believes in the unity of our dear state. We won the election and also the battle against those who wanted to drag our state to the dark ages of ethnic division. Kogites, this victory is yours and it will herald fresh air of consolidation and continuity,” DG posited
