By Kingsley Fanwo

Ahead of the November 21 governorship poll in Kogi State, the three main political parties in the state have intensified campaigns to outwit one another. While the two main gladiators in the contest are the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party, which is fielding another formidable candidate in the person of Dr. Philips Salawu, has also emerged as a major contender.

The PDP and APC are the two major parties with structures across the 21 local councils of the state with 50-50 chances of winning next month’s governorship election. Labour Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) are being considered as underdogs in the contest.

APC’s storms Anyigba: With a successful outing in Anyigba, APC has shown a clear intent of taking over the 1914 Lugard House in January 2016. The turn-out of supporters at the rally was quite instructive and might have sent the right signals to the power brokers in the state that the election would not be a walk over for the incumbent. Anyigba is located in Dekina Local Council, where the incumbent governor and candidate of the PDP, Capt. Idris Wada, hails from.

PDP receives 10,000 APC members in Ofu: But before the dust of the Anyigba rally could settle, PDP also pulled a master stroke of its own by welcoming about 10,000 defectors from the APC from Ofu Local Council, the home front of Prince Abubakar Audu. Led by Hon. Ajeka Baba, the defectors submitted their membership cards and resignation letters from APC.

Wada and Audu

Speaking at the event, Hon. Baba said their action was informed by the desire to support a governor that has laid the foundation for a truly democratic and developed Kogi State. He promised PDP that there would be more defectors in the coming days as the party is set to defeat APC in the area.

This coming from the political enclave of Prince Audu may be a tall dream because  he is a veteran politician, who knows his onions.

However, the signals showed that all is not well in the APC candidate’s local council. Pundits are of the view that the support given Audu by the former Majority Leader of the House of Assembly, Hon. Yinusa Yakubu, may swing the pendulum in APC’s favour in the area. Hon. Yakubu Yinusa is known to be a grass roots politician.

Governorship campaign

With the PDP governorship campaign set to roll out this week, APC is already ahead having visited Anyigba and Kabba for rallies. It was unclear why APC cancelled its campaign in Okene, but sources said that may be connected with the Yahaya Bello factor as many Ebira people believed that it was Audu, who aborted their dream of producing the next governor of the state.

Musings over Audu’s candidacy: However, facts have emerged that the postponement of the Flag off of campaign in Lokoja shows some frictions within the APC. A reliable source who is a member of the National Working Committee said the party is still battling with the legality of Audu’s candidature.

“We received a petition challenging the legality of Audu’s candidature. It was a very strong petition that we cannot discountenance. We have set up a panel to look at the petition and submit its  report for our consideration. What we want to achieve is to avoid post-election litigations which may affect the party. We want all our leaders to be on the same page in order to achieve victory in the state”, he said.

Rubbishing rumours of Audu’s possible disqualification, a member of the APC candidate’s media team, who craved anonymity said it was only a court decision that can strip Audu of the ticket.

He said: “I am not aware of such plans. As far as we are concerned, there is no debate on the candidature of Prince Abubakar Audu. What we should be debating now is whether to re-elect a failed governor or bring back the Messiah of the Kogi people”, he said.

Sources within the ruling PDP have said the campaign tour of the governor will also provide a platform for commissioning of completed projects and programmes of the Wada Administration. It was believed that the governor placed little premium on high tone project commissioning.

Kogi State APC Publicity Secretary, Prince Bode Ogunmola told Vanguard that the PDP campaign tour will be used as a celebration of the achievements of the governor in the last three and a half years.

“Our campaign is going to be unique in the sense that we hope to use it to showcase the laudable achievements of the governor. It will also afford us the opportunity to assess the extent of work on the ongoing projects across the state. We urge our supporters to remain steadfast and peaceful as we are sure of a resounding victory on November 21”, Ogunmola said.

Salawu gets endorsements

In a related development, the candidate of labour Party, Dr. Philips Salawu, has been receiving endorsements across the state. The recent being from Okun Computer Engineers Association led by Engr. Emmanuel Owotunse. The association said it is impressed by the plan of the governorship candidate to revolutionize computer education in the state, saying it will mobilize its members across the five local councils of Okunland to vote massively for him.