6th December, 2015
Former Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, has congratulated the people of Kogi State for the victory of All Progressives Congress (APC), at the conclusion of the governorship election in the state.
In a statement issued in Abuja by Michael Jegede, the Special Assistant on media and publicity to the former member of Pan African Parliament (PAP), Abatemi-Usman, he said the decision of the people to vote for APC, against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, was an indication that they want to see change in Kogi.
The Senator urged the people to give their total support to the Governor-elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to enable him bring about the needed development to Kogi State, in line with the change agenda of the APC government at the centre, led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Today, we are happy that our people have further shown their desire to embrace the change mantra of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration by voting for All Progressives Congress, APC, in the just concluded governorship election in our dear state.
“I congratulate my people and the APC family for this great feat. I congratulate our Governor-elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. We must show him our complete support in this great task of salvaging Kogi State that has been placed on his shoulder.
“He certainly cannot do it alone. And so, we are duty-bound as a people to give him all the necessary encouragement, so that together we can bring Kogi out of the doldrums and take it to where it should be after over 24 years of creation,” Abatemi-Usman stated.
He implored the Governor-elect to position himself as a unifying figure, in order to entrench unity among the different ethnic groups in the state, while also urging him to ensure equitable distribution of resources across the state, so as to give a sense of belonging to all and sundry.
Abatemi-Usman, once again, prayed for the peaceful repose of the soul of Prince Abubakar Audu, who laid the solid foundation for APC’s victory in the Kogi State governorship election.
The gubernatorial election held on Saturday, 21 November, 2015 was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, because the number of registered voters in areas where elections were cancelled was more than the margin between the candidate with the highest votes and the runner-up.
The supplementary poll took place on Saturday, 5 December, after which Bello, the APC candidate, who replaced the late Audu got 247,752 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and incumbent Governor Idris Wada, who garnered 204,877 votes.