Kogi APC Primary: Ohiare Raises Alarm As Election Officials, Materials ‘Missing’ In 238 Wards

The governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State failed to hold on Friday as election officials were nowhere to be found, prompting one of the aspirants for the party’s ticket to raise the alarm.

This was according to one of the aspirants, Sanusi Mohammed Ohiare, who threatened to sue the APC if a candidate is announced without a proper primary election.

Ohiare, who is the Executive Director of the Rural Electrification Funds, had refused to step down from the race after Governor Yahaya Bello endorsed the state’s former auditor-general for local governments to pick the ticket.

The ruling APC had adopted the direct mode of primary for its Kogi governorship primary election in a notice earlier sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The party withdrew its earlier notice to INEC dated January 25, where it had declared that it would to use indirect primary mode.

Ohiare, while speaking to journalists at his ward on Friday, said no election officials were present despite huge turn out of voters for the primary election. He said similar situation was reported from about 238 wards in the state.

He recalled that such misconduct was responsible for the nullification of the Ward and Local Government Congresses of the APC held on February 7 which produced “unlawful delegates” and forced the party to switch to direct mode of primary election.

“If we are not careful, this is what is playing out again in Kogi State. As you recall, we were meant to do delegate election but because of similar problems or lack of congresses and just basically shrouding everything in secrecy, and lack of transparency, people went to court and the court annulled it.

“Now they said we should do direct primaries and the same thing is playing out. We’ve been here since 8 AM to vote and everybody is out here in their numbers but then there are no election materials or election officials and then we are just sitting down here.

“And the report I am getting from all over the state, in over 238 wards, is that no election is taking place. We have witnesses and evidence and definitely this is not going to stand.

“So, what I have done is to quickly write a letter of complaint to the chairman of the primary election committee, Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, and I am hoping to hear from him. If they don’t, I will escalate it to the highest levels of the party and if I don’t hear anything, we’ll have to go to court because election is supposed to be about the government of the people and for the people,” he said.

Ohiare, like Governor Bello, hails from the Kogi Central senatorial district of the state.

THE WHISTLER reported that Governor Bello had ignored calls for power shift and endorsed the state’s former Auditor-General for Local Governments, Ahmed Usman Ododo, to pick the APC governorship ticket.

Ododo is from Kogi Central.