As the All Progressives Congress, APC, is preparing for the conduct of primares to determine who will hold its ticket in the Kogiwest Senatorial election, a socio political group Okun Frontline Leaders, OFL, has urged the party members to jettison zoning and instead vote for an aspirant with outstanding competence and experience who will remain accessible to all.
The group said Okun people are noted for their intellectual prowess, native intelligence, and administrative capabilities and should not settle for less in its choice of a senator.
The group said there was no time in the history of Kogi west that a zoning arrangement was made saying at every given election, aspirants from all the three federal constituencies always come to contest and the most acceptable aspirant was always the Winner.
It cited a meeting in the late Dr Stephen Olorunfemi’s house in 2006 (who was then the political leader) where zoning arrangement was mooted, recalling that all the leaders from Yagba axis vehemently opposed it and insisted that every aspirant must go and test their popularity on the field.
The group wondered why some selfish people are mow talking about zoning saying Yagba federal constituency alone has so far produced three senators including Chief Justus Olu from Egbe, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, from Mopa and the current senator Sunday Karimi also from Egbe
The group in a press statement made available to newsmen in Lokoja and signed by it’s Publicity Secretary, Dr Johnson Eseyin Ojo said that zoning must not be a yardstick for electing the next senator and called on the ruling party not to make the mistake of electing a senator who is not accessible and who will be working against the interests of the party in future.
Okun Frontline Leaders which said it has discreetly undertaken a comprehensive background checks on all the five aspirants that have so far collected the Senate nomination forms said some of them have fallen grossly below being considered to be voted for due to their background.
According to the statement, one of the strongest contenders to the Senate seat is said to be romancing with a Money bag who is allegedly said to be financing an opposition party against the re election bid of President Bola Tinubu
The statement alleged that the frontline aspirant who is ‘broke’ has been running helter skelter within the circle of Kogi state government officials trying to sell his candidacy, with a hidden agenda to cause crisis in the ruling party.
“Such unstable character if elected can not be trusted and he is still consistently bereft of ideas on how to move the Senatorial district forward and should therefore not be entrusted with the position of a senator as this is obviously an over sized shoe to his legs.”
The group also took on incumbent Senator Sunday Karimi, describing him as under-performing and the worst in the history of the zone. “It is surprising that we have a senator who can not be reached, he is not accessible even when the constituents have serious problem, he cannot be reached
He is the only senator in the zone who has no constituency office
“It is, therefore, iittle wonder that all the stakeholders, including market women and youths, recently denounced his style of leadership and passed a vote of no confidence on him.”
The Okun Frontline Leaders while commending Governor Usman Ododo and former Governor Yahaya Bello which it described as the Pillar of APC in the state advised both leaders to only support an aspirant that is most competent and loyal to the party and should not listen to some individuals’ sentiments.
“We therefore call on the delegates to vote for a man of impeccable integrity, radiating foresight, unmatched experience who is bold and vocal and who can be regarded as the voice of the voiceless. Merit and virtue should not be sacrificed at the altar of zoning”the
statement added.
It would be recalled that no less than six aspirants have obtained the APC nomination and expression of interest form for Kogiwest. They include Karimi, former senator Smart Adeyemi, former Representative Aro Samuel Bamidele, and Alhaji Bisimilahi.
