The best party primary ever held in the history of Kogi state was the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship primary held on April 14, 2023. It was the most peaceful primary, because most of the candidates stepped down for others. This paved the way for Alhaji Ododo Ahmed Usman to emerge as the winner of the primary.
A similar scenario played out in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011, where Captain Idris Wada (rtd) became the governorship candidate of the party; he won the election. After the primary, some of the aggrieved PDP candidates challenged the process up to the Supreme Court but failed to upturn the election.
Kogi west senatorial district, where Senator Smart Adeyemi hails from, has never complained of foul play in the primary. He was a PDP senator. His belief is the right of the east senatorial district to govern the state. Former Governor Ibrahim Idris gave us his brother, Wada Idris, as the governorship candidate in 2011. Why are we not sincere with the reality on ground?
Kogi central district has the largest population that is why we generate over 78 percent of the revenue to the state.
The APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Abubakar Kyar, in a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stated that the party will adopt direct primary. Direct primary is the mode of election where registered members of a party vote for who they want to be the candidate of their party.
The direct primary was in favour of Alhaji Ododo Ahmed Usman who scored 78,704 votes, thus winning the direct primary election with a wide margin to defeat six other contestants in the governorship race.
Seven aspirants including the state’s deputy governor, Edward Onoja, Governor Yahaya Bello’s Chief of Staff, Pharm. Jamiu Mohammed Asuku, had earlier withdrawn from the gubernatorial race and asked their supporters to vote for Ododo Ahmed Usman at the primary election.
It’s very unfortunate that the unqualified and the least scoring aspirants, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Murtala Ajaka, and Smart Adeyemi, the senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, respectively, are the aspirants contesting the result and the model of the primary.
It is not new to those of us who know Smart Adeyemi as an ingrate who always bites the finger that feeds him. That is why I’m not surprised about his behaviour this time around. It was the Kogi state governor who supported him to become a senator.
Suleiman Raji Saidu,
78, Line Councilor,
Mando, Kaduna state
