The political landscape of Kogi State has been entrapped and enveloped in a political logjam cum gridlock ever since the shocking death of Prince Abubakar Audu, a two-time former Governor of the State and All Progressives Congress standard bearer in the inconclusive election, on Sunday, November 22, 2015. Rather than being resolved, both politically and otherwise, the situation is just getting more and more complicated.
Audu’s running mate in the Saturday, November 21 election, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, also a member of the Federal House of Representatives, just wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission asking it to declare him the next in line – that is, to continue from where Audu stopped as APC’s standard bearer.
Some supporters of the late Abubakar Audu, of course, won’t have that. And as such have been fighting back and insisting that the man’s son, Mohammed, steps into his father’s shoes. Which expectedly has further polarized the party in the State.
And as if that is not enough headache already for APC, Yahaya Bello, the man whom Audu defeated during the APC primaries has equally thrown his hat into the ring, insisting that he is the rightful person to fly the party’s flag.
The People’s Democratic Party, interesting, just came up with an entirely new dimension to the political drama that is now filled with so much twists and turns. The incumbent Governor and PDP standard bearer, Idris Wada, just raced to an Abuja High Court urging it to restrain INEC from going ahead with the supplementary election, immediately declare him the winner of the last election where he came 2nd or conduct a fresh election.
‘The drama is still unfolding’, said one Kogite, ‘but the days ahead sure promise to be interesting’. INEC, meanwhile, has fixed the remaining Kogi guber election for Saturday, December 5. Even with neither APC nor PDP knowing which way to go next.
Late Abubakar Audu was buried on Monday, November 23, in his hometown of Ogbonicha amidst resurrection and non resurrection drama. He was aged 68.