The All Progressives Congress (APC) special congress on Saturday in Kogi ratified Ahmed Usman Ododo as the party’s governorship candidate for the November 11 governorship election in the state.
Ododo had on Friday defeated six other aspirants to emerge candidate and flag bearer of the APC in a direct primary election held across the state
The ratification, held at Mohammadu Buhari Square, Lokoja by a special congress of the party, was done in conformity with the party’s guidelines for the primary election across the state’s 239 wards on Friday.
The special congress, presided over by Governor Mohammed Bello-Matawale led Kogi APC election committee, superintended over the ratification which was widely attended by party members that came from different parts of the state.
Mr. Patrick Obahiagbon, the secretary to the committee, represented the Zamfara Governor.
After the state-wide elections, Obahiagbon said, “After the carefully conducted primaries, devoid of rancour and with no violence recorded anywhere in the state, and having scored 78,704 votes, Usman Ododo has been returned as the governorship candidate of our great party.”
“By the election and ratification, Ododo will fly the party’s flag in the November 11 Governorship Election in the state,” he said.
Ododo, in his acceptance speech, promised to continue to improve on the security template laid down by the incumbent Gov Yahaya Bello, among many other life-changing legacies of the current administration.
Bello, at the event, said he was sure that Ododo would not disappoint kogi people, adding that the crowd at the congress was a pointer to his acceptability across the length and breadth of the state, without consideration for ethnic or religious bias.
“Today’s event shows that there is no opposition in Kogi State. We are one big family; we have won everything election in the state.
“We won presidential election, we won the available three senatorial seats; six out of nine House of Representatives seats; and 23 out of 25 state assembly seats and expect to win the Nov. 11 governorship poll,” the governor said.
Some All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidates rejected the results of the party’s primary election in the state on Saturday evening.
Senator Smart Adeyemi, former Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Professor Stephen Ocheni, son of late ex-Governor Abubakar Audu, Shuiabu, and Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, a member of the APC’s National Working Committee, are among the candidates.
Senator Adeyemi, speaking on behalf of the dissatisfied aspirants at a news conference in Abuja, said that no poll had taken place to warrant the announcement of Ahmed Usman Ododo as the APC’s governorship candidate for the state.
He urged president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President-elect Senator Kashim Shettima, APC National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu, and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) not to accept the results of the primary poll.
