Governorship aspirant lists reasons for Kogi State’s backwardness as APC screens 27 contenders

AS far as a Kogi State governorship aspirant, Alhaji Haliru Sani Shuaibu is concerned, the issue of over concentration of power in the Igala speaking part of Kogi State should not be blamed for the backwardness of the state.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja at the weekend, he said it is the responsibility of the citizenry in the state to vote into power persons whose requisite exposure and competence can take the state out of the woods.

Shuaibu, who hails from the Igala speaking part of the state, blamed successive Peoples Democratic Party PDP-led administrations in the state for the backwardness of the state.

The Guardian investigations reveal that the APC has earned about N137.5m from 27 contenders that indicated interest for the plum job within the past ten days.

Of the aspirants that procured the expression of interest and nomination at N5.5 million each, two of them who got the forms for free were women while the remainder was males.

The aspirants whose screening will commence today comprises a former Kogi State governor, Prince Abubakar Audu, Barrister James Ocholi, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Senator Nicholas Yahaya Ugbane, Mr. Sani Halilu Shuaibu, Alhaji Suleiman Baba Ali, Air Vice Marshall Saliu Atawodi, Mr. Muhammad Abdullahi, Senator Nuruddeen Abatemi Usman, and Hajiya Hadiza Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, the newly registered Democratic Peoples’ Congress (DPC) has said it will field candidates to contest governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states. The elections are scheduled to hold on November 21 and December 5, respectively.

This resolution formed part of the communiqué issued at the end of its inaugural National Executive Committee (NEC), meeting held in Abuja on Saturday.

The communiqué signed by the DPC National Chairman, Rev. Olusegun Peters, showed that primaries to decide candidates for the Kogi and Bayelsa seats would be held on Sept. 12 and Sept. 28, respectively.

“The NEC resolved that our great party shall field candidates to contest the forthcoming Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections. NEC also urged credible Nigerians, who desired to contest these elections on the platform of the DPC to obtain the party’s nomination form for a fee of N5 million,” the communiqué stated.

DPC said that the sale of nomination forms for Kogi State governorship would start from Aug. 12, while the nomination form for Bayelsa governorship poll would be on sale from from Sept. 1.”

According to Shuaibu, “Kogi State is backward today not because it doesn’t have the right calibre of persons to take it out of the wood. I have heard a section of our citizenry say the problem lies with power shift; that the state is backward because my Igala people have been administering it without tangible results for all to see.

“I beg to differ on this proposition. For me, such talks are a creation of the opposition PDP. The PDP had a hand in the backwardness of the state because for the past twelve years, it produced the governors that brought the state to its knees.