PDP, APC lock horns over Kogi Assembly

Abubakar and National Chairman, PDP, Adamu Mu’azu

In this piece, IDRIS ADESINA examines the unfolding intrigues trailing the inconclusive legislative elections in six state constituencies of Kogi

Despite the governorship election not holding in the north-central state of Kogi, the race over which party controls the majority of the 25 seats in the state House of Assembly has intensified between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. The battleground for the control of the majority in the House is located in the inconclusive legislative elections into five state constituencies of the parliament. It will be recalled that elections did not also hold in Dekina II state constituency.

Although the PDP presently occupies the majority of seats in the House, the gale of defections which hit the party in the state in 2014 has made it easy for other parties to stake a claim to legislative seats with the APC benefitting more as the largest opposition in the state.

The April 11 elections in the state witnessed a low turnout but with pockets of violence in some parts of Kogi-East senatorial district and allegations of widespread manipulations by the ruling party, the Independent National Electoral Commission delayed the announcement of some of the results in the elections.

Although the weeks before the elections witnessed a tensed atmosphere in various parts of the state with the candidates keeping their cards close to their chests, enthusiasm abound more among the supporters of the two leading parties who boasted that their party would win the majority seats in the House. Supporters contended that controlling the majority in the legislature would put their party at an advantage ahead of the state’s governorship election later in the year.

Kogi APC rode on the back of its success in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly polls where it won the presidential election, the three senatorial seats and six out of the nine House of Representatives seats in the state.

The APC polled 264,851 of the total votes of 439,287 to defeat PDP, which had 149,987 votes. Dino Melaye recorded a major upset as he defeated the incumbent Senator Smart Adeyemi of the PDP in the Kogi-West senatorial election.

Although a former Kogi State Governor, Abubakar Audu, and former House of Assembly Speakers, Clarence Obafemi and Abdullahi Bello, are working assiduously to ensure that the party wrest power from the ruling PDP, the party also appears to have the support and sympathy of the majority of the people in the 21 Local Government Areas of the state.

The PDP, however, relies on its power of incumbency to retain the seats and recover from its loss in the presidential elections.

After much speculations and mudslinging by the two parties, the INEC last week released the results of the elections in 19 state constituencies while declaring five constituencies inconclusive even as it said elections did not hold in one constituency.

Of the 19 released results, the PDP won 12 seats of Okehi, Adavi, Bassa, Ibaji, Idah, Ijumu, Kabba/Bunu, Ogori Magongo, Okene II, Omala, Yagba-East and Yagba-West while the APC won seven that included Ankpa I and II, Kogi/KotonKarfe, Lokoja I, Mopa Muro, Okene I and Olamaboro.

Both parties, however, are laying claim to the seats of the five inconclusive seats in Ajaokuta, Dekina I, Igalamela-Odolu, Lokoja II and Ofu while clamouring for election to hold in the last lone seat in Dekina II, which had no election on April 11.

Before the results were released, the APC chairman in the state, Haddy Ametuo, told journalists in Lokoja that the party had evidence of PDP manipulations of the election results which were announced at the local government levels.

He said, “The PDP is trying to connive with INEC to manipulate the results which have been announced at the various local governments. What could have caused the delay in announcing a result that was only submitted at the headquarters since Sunday morning?

Salau and Ametuo

“But we will not fold our hands and let them cheat us. We have information that the constituencies that we have won have now been declared inconclusive, which we will also not take.”

True to the threat, immediately the results were released, the APC headed to INEC to lay complaints about the announced results.

A leader of the party and State Collation Officer of the Assembly elections, Suleiman Lawal, told our correspondent on the telephone that the party will seek redress.

“The APC is not comfortable with the results announced. I have made a complaint about the results at the Lokoja office of INEC but the response they gave us was not good enough,” he said.

“We will make a formal complaint in Abuja to let them know that there were irregularities and the evidence we have of winning in those places they said were inconclusive,” he added.

However, in a swift reaction, the PDP on Tuesday addressed a press conference to reject the results, alleging that the APC was responsible for the irregularities in the elections.

Chairman of the PDP, Hassan Salau, said that the INEC should hold new elections in some of the wards where the APC won, citing massive irregularities as the reason for the call.

Salau said, “The result of the just concluded House of Assembly election in the state where our party clinched a majority of the seats shows that we are rapidly recovering from the defeat we suffered during the presidential and National Assembly polls.”

“As collation began with early results showing the PDP in the lead, the APC alleged that fake ballot papers were used in parts of Kogi-East senatorial district and that PDP supporters snatched ballot boxes in some polling units. Reports reaching us indicated that INEC may have succumbed to the lies and caprices of the APC at the detriment of truth and in complete disadvantage of the PDP.

“We arrived at this conclusion based on the results so far declared by INEC and the decision by the electoral body to declare as inconclusive elections in five state constituencies. The results in dispute are those of Ofu, Ajaokuta, Koton-Karfe, Dekina II State Constituency, Olamaboro and Lokoja constituency. Contrary to the plot by APC to present itself as the underdog in the electoral debacle, our investigations reveal that APC is the aggressor. Cohorts of the party had relied on violence to massively undermine the electoral process in the three senatorial districts.

“In Dekina I, collation of results at the constituency level was under way when APC thugs disrupted it. Luckily, available results from the units and the wards showed that PDP was in clear lead. We strongly demand that since results from the field indicate that PDP was coasting to victory, our candidate should promptly be declared as winner. In Dekina II, the election was scuttled and prematurely terminated. Since there was no election in Dekina II, we are calling on INEC to speedily fix date for a fresh poll to enable the people elect their representative in accordance with the law.

“In Ofu constituency, there were massive intimidation of voters by armed APC hoodlums.. Even agents of the PDP were denied access to the collating centre. We demand that the results from such centres be cancelled. In addition, we urge the INEC to uphold results of the Four Units where election took place in Ejule and to conduct fresh election in the remaining Ten Units where there were no elections.

But if the words of Abubakar are anything to go by, the battle for the soul of the Kogi Assembly will put the integrity of the INEC to the test.

The former governor, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Lokoja, said the APC will legally resist any attempt by the PDP to steal its mandate from them.

He said, “For close to 16 years in this state, we have been in the opposition and now the people have bestowed their trust on us. We will not allow the PDP to steal that trust from us as we will fight legally to get our right. We implore them to leave a fight they can’t win because we have evidence of the areas where we won. They should be generous losers and respect the wishes of Kogi people.”