Bello In Secret Pact With Late Audu's Supporters As APC Sets To Formally Unveil Him Tomorrow

Alhaji Yahaya Bello, whose name the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) National Working Committee (NWC) has forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as replacement for the late Prince Abubakar Audu in Kogi State Governorship election, has made overtures to the late politician’s loyalists and urged them to support him in the supplementary election.

A staunch member of Prince Audu’s Campaign Organisation who attended a late night meeting with Alhaji Bello on Friday told our reporters that the
politician wanted the late Audu’s  political structure, which helped in garnering the leading votes in last weekend’s election, collapsed into Alhaji Bello’s to ensure the APC wins the supplementary election slated for December 5, 2015.

In the supplementary election, the 49,000 outstanding votes are mainly in the Kogi East Senatorial District, which is the stronghold of the late Prince Audu. There are about 39,000 votes being targeted in Kogi East, 7,000 votes in Kogi Central and 3,000 votes in Kogi West. It is feared that without the support of Audu’s structure, it would be difficult for the APC to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) Governor Idris Wada.

“Alhaji Bello promised to carry us along, saying that it was the late Audu  who  won the election, not him. He promised to compensate us by giving us positions in his government. The details of the appointments will be worked out at a meeting on Sunday night, but he has asked us to sustain Audu’s campaign structure. He also promised that as we join forces with him, he will not discriminate between his political structure and that of the late Audu. Alhaji Bello said he realised that  it will be unfair for him to inherit our labour without bringing those who worked for the victory into his cabinet,” Daily Trust on Sunday’s source at the meeting revealed.

Furthermore, Alhaji Bello, our reporter learnt, is wooing Hon James Faleke for the position of Deputy Governor, by persuading him to withdraw a court case instituted by Faleke in which he is asking to be declared winner in the November 21 Governorship Election, now that Prince Audu is dead.

However, further checks with the campaign organisation showed that it was not all members of Audu’s campaign organisation that are in bed with Alhaji Bello. A close supporter of Prince Audu dismissed the arrangement, saying: “what the party is doing is not fair to Kogi East. Alhaji Bello openly worked against the APC candidate in the election. How can he now benefit from what he worked against? Secondly, you can’t have a political solution that does not feature Kogi East in the governorship. If you say Alhaji Bello is the replacement, and you also say Hon Faleke should be his deputy, what happens to Kogi East that delivered a huge chunk of the winning votes? Yes, the votes were for the APC, but it was Prince Audu’s personality that won those votes. We’ll take a legal step in this matter.”

Meanwhile, Alhaji Suleiman Baba-Ali, who came seventh in Kogi State APC primary election, told our reporter last night that the choice of Alhaji Bello as the party’s candidate for the supplementary election was the best solution, despite the fact that some supporters of the late Audu may not be happy about it.

According to him, “Based on equity, fair play and justice, it is proper and correct to pick the person who came second in the primary election. Using the primary election as the basis for solving this problem is better than other options available. Legal experts have said if the winner of the primary election dies, the second person in the contest should be given the ticket to complete the race. Anything outside this step will be too expensive, as the PDP could cash in on it and frustrate our victory. Making Alhaji Bello the replacement is the safest step to take, incidentally.”


Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will tomorrow, Monday, formally submit the name of Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the replacement of the late Prince Abubakar Audu, its gubernatorial candidate in Kogi State.

This is coming in the wake of the resolve of late Audu’s allies to throw their weight behind Bello, in order to consolidate the victory of the APC in the concluding part of the gubernatorial election, slated for next Saturday.

Credible sources at the party’s secretariat confirmed that all is now set to unveil Bello on Monday at a brief ceremony.

“We are still mourning the demise of Prince Audu, but in between the time of his death and now, a lot of consultations have been made,” one of the sources said.

“It is certain that Yahaya Bello is now the candidate but we would officially announce his name on Monday.

“There were varied options from various stakeholders but we believe what we did is the most acceptable option,” another source said.

The sources said everything must be concluded by Monday in order to beat the deadline.
Meanwhile, Suleiman Abdulmalik,  a media aide of the late Prince Audu said they heard of the new development.

“We believe Almighty God has reasons for everything. We pray that our principal rest in peace, we would continue to miss him.

“Similarly, we wanted his son, Mohammed, to be picked as the gubernatorial candidate but it seems the party had weighted the options, vis-à-vis the implications in the electoral process. As such, we would toy the path of the party, we would support Yahaya Bello.

“We are optimistic he will not  deviate from the philosophy of Prince Audu, and we are also sure that he will ensure that the legacies of Audu endured,” he said.

Another source close to Audu, who did not want his name  said it will be wrong to continue to argue on who replaced Audu.

“Yahaya Bello got the second highest votes, which goes to show that he is equally accepted. It will be foolhardy for us to reject him. This is because, even if we voted against him, nothing will change, the APC has won already.

“Our prayer is that he should not throw away Audu’s political platform,” he said.