Abubakar Audu, APC’s Governorship candidate feared dead

Prince Abubakar Audu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the just concluded Kogi state election which the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared inconclusive is feared dead.

Abubakar Audu after voting
INEC returning officer for the election, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha of Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, said no party could be declared the winner yet since the numbers of cancelled votes was more than the difference between the first placed Prince Abubakar Audu of APC and the second placed Capt. Idris Wada of PDP.
Should the election not have been declared inconclusive the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Abubakar Audu, ought to have be declared the winner of the Kogi State Governorship election that was held on Saturday.
Prince Abubakar Audu, was the first Executive Governor of Kogi State and was born on 27 October 1947, to the family of his Royal Highness, the late Pa Audu Oyidi, Orego Atta of Igala Land and the paramount ruler of Ogbonicha-Alloma in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
He started his education at the then N.A. Junior Primary School, Alloma, and later N.A Senior School Ankpa, from where he proceeded to Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha. He later transferred to the Jos Commercial College where he obtained both the GCE O and A level
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‪#‎OFU‬ LGA

Collation Officer- Dr.Benson.A
No of Reg.Voters- 76936
No of Accredited Voters-32311
Results: APC-16800, LP-20,PDP-10997
Total Vote Cast-30631
Rejected Vote-1946

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Kogi decides

Elderly, pregnant women, others receive priority accreditation
Elderly persons, pregnant women as well as Persons with Disabilities are being given special priority to facilitate their accreditation for the Kogi governorship election.
The affected persons were being prioritised by the electoral officials in most of the polling units across the state.
Miss Juliana Nwadike, a corps member on election duty in one of the polling units, said that ‘’elderly men and women, people living with disabilities and pregnant women’’ were being accredited first before other eligible voters to make the process easier for them.
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In Ajaokuta Local Government Area, NAN reports that most of the voters were youths while the turnout of women was low.
Some of the voters, who spoke, however, decried the slow process of accreditation by the officials handling the card reader machines.
Meanwhile, there was low turnout of voters in Okene and its environs.
Many of the polling units with an average of 500 – 700 voting population in the area only managed to accredit between 50 and 70 voters between 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
At Ogaminana, Nagazi and Obangede in Adavi and Okehi local government areas, the process was smooth.
Mr Torres Chrrs, a United States embassy observer, told NAN that the accreditation process was ‘’great and good’’.
At Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area, the exercise was also peaceful while voters turned out in large numbers to discharge their civic responsibilities.
Meanwhile, accreditation of voters commenced at about 8:45 a.m. at Idah in Kogi East Senatorial District with heavy presence of security personnel in most of the polling stations.
At New GRA ward, Unit 001, the Presiding Officer, Ms Joy Okonkwo, said that the two card reader machines deployed to the unit were in perfect condition.
At Ofukolo ward unit 006, the Presiding Officer, Mr Ubonnu Kelechi, however, told NAN that although electoral materials were adequate, the card reader machines were malfunctioning.
A correspondent who visited some of the polling units in the area reports that the turnout of voters was impressive as at 9 a.m. with women and youths dominating the process.

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Kogi Youths Set Police Van Ablaze Over Pedestrian’s Death

Enraged youths on Wednesday attacked and set ablaze a police patrol vehicle at Obehira, in the Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The youths were said to have accused the police of causing the death of an accident victim.

A source told our correspondent in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, that the police patrol vehicle had been chasing a vehicle suspected to be conveying India hemp along the Obehira Road and that the vehicle while running away hit a passerby.

The victim was said to have fell into a gutter and died.

The source said the driver of the offending vehicle escaped from the scene before the arrival of the police while the youths were said to have been enraged by the indifference of the policemen to the fate of the dead victim hence the attack on the security agents.

The Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Collins Adebayo, confirmed the burning of the police vehicle.

The PPRO explained that the police had received a distress call about a red Honda Accord car said to be transporting Indian hemp.

He said that the driver of the Honda car sped off on sighting the police and that the car hit the victim, whose identity remained unknown as of the time of this report.

Adebayo said the driver of the vehicle escaped while the youths later attacked the police vehicle in anger.

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Kogi PDP protests James Ocholi’s portfolio

BARELY 24 hours after the inauguration of the new Federal Executive Council by President Muhammadu Buhari, the leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State has faulted the portfolio allocatedtothe state.

The ministerial nominee for the state, James Ocholi (SAN), was assigned the portfolio of junior minister in the re-configured Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. The ministry until now, was known as Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

He is to assist former governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, in administering the ministry. Ocholi, described as one of Buhari’s earliest followers, was governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Kogi State during the 2011 elections. Buhari used the same party platform to launch his presidential bid that year.

He also contested the August 2015 governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, against the eventual winner, Prince Abubakar Audu, a twotime former governor of the state.

Addressing journalists in Lokoja yesterday, the state publicity secretary of the PDP, Bode Ogunmola, described as “humiliating and condescending”, the position of junior minister allocated to Kogi State in a, “c-grade, if not d-grade” ministry.

Ogunmola said Kogi State never had it so bad under successive PDP administrations, adding that the APC has demonstrated that the state and its people, can- not have a fair deal under its administration, particularly under an APC governor. Going down memory lane, Ogunmola said: “Under former President, Olusegun Obasanjo,

Kogi State manned the Police Affairs, Industries, Health and Justice ministries in that order, fol- lowing the appointments of Gen David Jemibewon, Chief Kola Jamodu, Prof Eyitayo Lambo and Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), respectively.”

He recalled that much as the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administra- tion between 2007 and 2011 could not guarantee senior cabinet ranks for Kogi ministers, Chief Gabriel Aduku and Humphrey Abah, they functioned in the, ‘A-Grade’ portfolio as Health, Interior and Police Affairs ministers at various times.

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