APC Appeal Panel Calls for Cancellation of Kogi Primary

Among members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, there are worries that the party may be producing two candidates ahead of the November 21 governorship election if the issue on hand is not urgently resolved.

The fresh fears which started at the weekend is as a result of the report of the state Governorship Primary Election Appeal Panel, submitted to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), which indicted the winner of the primary election held on August 29, former Governor, Prince Abubakar Audu, and called for his disqualification on a variety of allegations, bothering on corruption and violation of the provisions of the constitution of the party and the guidelines for the conduct of the primaries.

Other APC governorship aspirants in the last primaries had challenged Audu’s victory. The runners up, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, had written a strong petition over the conduct of the primaries.

The APC appeal panel, chaired by Dr. Sam Sam Jaja, with Mr. Ahmad El-Marzuq and Mr. Tunde Imolehin serving as secretary and member respectively, in an 11-page report, a copy which THISDAY obtained, expressly called for the nullification of the emergence of Audu as the candidate of the APC in the upcoming gubernatorial election in the state and name the petitioner, Bello, the aspirant who scored the second highest votes and who is constitutionally eligible, his replacement.

Drawing inference from the case of Hope Uzodinma vs Senator Osita Izunaso, where the court insisted that ‘a political party must obey its constitution, the panel also recommended that Bello’s name be immediately forwarded to INEC as the candidate of the APC in the November 21 gubernatorial election in the state.