From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has expressed joy and appreciation to God for his overwhelming victory at the just concluded, All Progressives Congress, APC primaries.
Governor Bello also thanked the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinuby and its National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole for their support.
He congratulated all aspirants that contested the party primary and thanked delegates for the confidence reposed in him to fly the party’s flag in the November 16 governorship election.
“Your votes today demonstrates your esteemed confidence in my leadership, this show of faith is highly appreciated and shall serve as a boost to our collective aspirations of moving Kogi state to the next level. ” He said.
The Governor also hailed the democratic posture of all the aspirants and appealed to them to join hands in delivering the state to the All Progressives Congress come November.
Bello while speaking to journalists after he was declared winner, assured that he would coast home to victory for the party come November 16 guber polls.
“I thank God almighty for this victory. And I want appreciate the National Leader Of our party, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu for his advice. I want to express my appreciation to the National Chairman of our party, His Excellency (Comrade) Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole and the National Working Committee of our party for the quality of leadership they have provided. My sincere appreciation to the Chairman of the electoral committee, His Excellency Mohammed Badaru Abubakar And His members”
“In this contest, there is no winner, no vanquished therefore, I called on all aspirants, stakeholders and members of our party to come to work with me to ensure victory for our party on the 16 November 2019”, he said.
The exercise which commenced as early as 8: am on Thursday at confluence stadium in Lokoja witnessed the accreditation of 3,596 delegates out of a total number of 3,838 delegates drawn from the 239 wards of the 21 local government areas of the state
The exercise was held in the presence of the representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Declaring the result, the Chairman of the electoral committee and the Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru disclosed that the incumbent governor of the state Alhaji Yahaya Bello pulled a total v of 3,091 votes to emerged as the winner of the keenly contested governorship primaries,
Announcing the breakdown of the result , the Chairman of the electoral committee said Hadiza Ibrahim scored zero, Yahaya Odidi Audu pulled 10 votes while Sani Lulu Abdullahi also pulled 7 votes.
He added that Engr. Abubakar Bashir had 3 votes while Engr. Danlami Umar Mohammed, Yakubu Mohammed and Ekele Aisha Blessing scored 0 votes at the end of the exercise.
Speaking further, Governor Badaru disclosed that Hassan Abdullahi Baiwa pulled 44 votes just as Babatunde Irukera scored 109 votes to emerged second position.
The result, however did not go down well with Irukera, who stated that the process was not transparent.
Before voting started, a coalition major of major political parties stakeholders in Kogi state had urged delegates to vote for Sani Lulu Abdullahi.
The spokesperson of the coalition, Frank Kato who announced the decision of the group in partnership with the Sani Lulu Campaign Organization, said the support was based on the political track record of Sanni Lulu Abdullah.
