Senator Smart Adeyemi, one of the four aggrieved aspirants at the recently concluded governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, has accused Governor Yahaya Bello of imposing his cousin on the state. Senator Adeyemi made the accusation during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
Adeyemi vehemently denied the alleged forged result that was sent to the party’s national secretariat, and claimed that no APC primary election was held in the state. He further alleged that the purported winner of the election, Ahmed Ododo, who polled 78,704 votes, is a cousin of Governor Bello. Adeyemi expressed concerns that if such nepotism continues, a time may come when the governor will impose his own son on the state, calling it the “worst form of nepotism.”
Adeyemi described the entire process as a “rape of democracy” and accused the governor of manipulating the election to install his anointed candidate as the next governor of the state. He claimed that there was no election conducted in the state, and that the process was a charade. He accused the party officials of handing over materials to local government chairmen and party officials, who then filled up forms in their comfort zones and returned them to the APC election committee, without conducting any actual election.
In response to Adeyemi’s allegations, Kogi State Commissioner of Information and Communications, Hon. Kingsley Fanwo, defended Governor Bello, stating that the APC governorship election was not manipulated. Fanwo accused Adeyemi of being economical with the truth and pointed to video clips of the election as evidence that it had taken place. He also urged the aggrieved aspirants to familiarize themselves with the party’s constitution and its provisions on membership and voting eligibility.
Fanwo further alleged that fake membership scripts were issued to non-APC members to cause trouble during the election, and suggested that the aggrieved aspirants should refer to the party’s constitution for guidance.
The situation in Kogi State remains tense as the four aggrieved aspirants contest the outcome of the APC primary. The party officials have stated that they are still investigating the allegations, while Senator Adeyemi and others continue to assert that the election was manipulated and that Governor Bello imposed his cousin as the winner. The outcome of the investigation and the resolution of the dispute remain uncertain, with political tensions running high in Kogi State.