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Fresh indications have emerged that apart from the violence\nunleashed on voters and the opposition parties in Kogi State during last\nSaturday\u2019s gubernatorial election, internal crisis within the People\u2019s\nDemocratic Party (PDP) and the possibility of power rotating to Kogi West\nSenatorial zone in 2023 also contributed to the re-election of the candidate of\nthe All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Yahaya Bello.
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\nThis is coming as a PDP Woman Leader for Wada Aro Campaign Council,\nOchadamu Ward, in Ofu Local Government Area, Mrs. Acheju Abuh, has been burnt\nto death in her home by suspected political thugs.
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\nTHISDAY gathered that the seed of discord was sowed in the PDP on\nSeptember 3, after Musa Wada, a younger brother of a former Governor of the\nstate, Captain Idris Wada, emerged the winner of the party\u2019s governorship\nprimaries in the state.
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\nWada had polled a total of 748 votes to defeat his main opponent,\nAbubakar Ibrahim, the son of another former Governor of the state, Ibrahim\nIdris (popularly called Ibro) who polled 710 votes.
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\nWada\u2019s elder brother, Idris came third with 345 votes while Dino\nMelaye polled 70 votes to emerge fourth.
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\nThe governorship primary election had initially ended abruptly when\ngunmen invaded the Lokoja Confluence Stadium venue of the election.
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\nInvestigation revealed that Ibrahim Idris who was the main financier\nof PDP in the state felt that his son was cheated out of the governorship\nticket.
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\nTo worsen the crisis, Abubakar, the second runner up in the PDP\nprimaries, also went to court, asking the court to declare him the winner of\nthe September 3 primaries.
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\nThe former governor, it was gathered, was also said to have withdrawn\nhis huge financial support for the main opposition party.
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\n\u201cThe former governor felt that despite all his contributions to the\nparty, his son was cheated out of the race. Not only that his son went to\ncourt, he also withdrew his financial support and PDP went to the main election\nto face Yahaya Bello with virtually empty pocket,\u201d a source within Kogi PDP told\nTHISDAY.
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\nTHISDAY gathered that though the former governor delivered his local\ngovernment area, Omola, to the PDP, he did not deploy his enormous resources\nand contact to ensure the victory of his party in the other parts of the state.
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\nIt was also gathered that the victory of Wada in the PDP primaries did\nnot go down well with his brother, Idris Wada.
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\nInvestigation revealed that despite the efforts of other family\nmembers to reconcile them before the governorship poll, the former governor did\nnot support the aspiration of his younger brother with enough commitment to\nguarantee victory at the polls.
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\nAlso an aggrieved Melaye showed his disaffection with the outcome of\nthe primaries when he rejected his appointment by the PDP as the\nDirector-General of the Kogi State Governorship Campaign Council.
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\n\u201cLet me state categorically that I have turned down the position of\nDirector-General of the PDP Kogi State Governorship Campaign Council. I wish\nPDP all the best. When truth is a casualty there is chaos. Senator Dino\nMelaye,\u201d Melaye had tweeted.
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\nTHISDAY gathered that apart from the crisis in the PDP, the hope of\nKogi West Senatorial zone to possibly have one of its people emerge as governor\nin 2023 also fueled support in favor of Bello who has just won a final term of\nfour years.
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\nInvestigation showed that the people of Kogi West believed that\nsupporting Wada means waiting for another eight years before it would get to\ntheir turn to produce the governor.
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\nBello defeated Wada in Kogi West with a margin of 33,578 votes.
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\nIn the seven local government areas that make up Kogi West \u2013 Kogi LGA;\nLokoja LGA; Yagba West LGA; Ijumu LGA; Kabba\/ Bunu LGA; Yagba East LGA; and\nMopamuro LGA, APC polled 89,699 votes, while PDP scored 56, 121 votes.
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\nA source within the Kogi PDP told THISDAY that the people of the\nsenatorial district did not want to wait for another eight years for it would\nbe their turn.
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\n\u201cKogi West did not want another candidate that will come and rule for\nanother eight years before it will be their turn. If Musa Wada wins, he will\nstay for eight years but Yahaya Bello has only four years. So, they opted to go\nwith Bello,\u201d he explained.
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\nPDP women Leader Set Ablaze in Kogi
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\nMeanwhile, THISDAY learnt that trouble began for the PDP chief when\nthugs started shooting when they arrived at her house and surrounded it,\nblocking every escape route.
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\nIt was gathered that the suspected hoodlums sprayed the building with\npetrol and set it ablaze as terrified villagers watched from far away.
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\nThe woman was said to have attempted to escape through a window but\nwas prevented by the metal burglar proof while dodging gunshots fired in her\ndirection.
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\nA source in the village said that \u201cthe blood thirsty thugs waited,\nshooting and watching with relish while Mrs. Abuh cried from inside the inferno\nuntil her voice died out.\u201d
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\nIt was gathered that the hoodlums left only when the entire house and\nMrs. Abuh had been razed down.
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\nThe Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the incident through a\nstatement by the Public Relations Officer, William Aya, a Deputy Superintendent\nof Police(DSP).
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\nAya, in the statement entitled \u201cculpable homicide\/mischief by fire,\u201d\nsaid: \u201cOn 18\/11\/2019 at about 1630hrs, one Musa Ety of Ochadamu, Ofu LGA\nreported at the station that, at about 1030 of same date, there was a\nmisunderstanding between one Awolu Zekeri aged 35 years member of APC and one\nGowon Simeon, a member of PDP both of Ochadamu, in the process Gowon Simeon\nstabbed Awolu Zekeri with a knife on his lap, he died on his way to the\nHospital.
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\n\u201cAs a result, angry youths in the area mobilized to the house of one\nSimeon Abuh of same address who is an uncle to the suspect, set it ablaze,\nthereby burnt one Salome Abuh, aged 60 years.\u201d
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\nHe said three other houses were equally burnt, adding that the body of\nthe deceased has been moved to the University Teaching Hospital Mortuary\nAnyigba for autopsy.
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\nAccording to him, the police have drafted personnel to the area to\nprevent any breakdown of law and order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fresh indications have emerged that apart from the violence unleashed on voters and the opposition parties in Kogi State during last Saturday\u2019s gubernatorial election, internal crisis within the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) and the possibility of power rotating to Kogi West Senatorial zone in 2023 also contributed to the re-election of the candidate of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[14,10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n