•Thanks electorate, condemns opposition’s ‘crime against democracy in Kogi East’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State has attributed its resounding success in the just concluded governorship election to the collective determination of the good people of the State to shun ethnicity for the overall development of the state, while thanking voters for turning out massively for the candidate of the party, Usman Ododo.

The APC also commended party members in Kogi East, where it alleged that opposition parties deployed thugs to deprive members of their franchise, adding that every vote the APC secured in Kogi East “represents hundreds of voters who were harassed, injured and even had their houses burnt for their political beliefs.”

The Director of Media and Publicity/Spokesperson for the Kogi State Governorship Campaign Council, Kingsley Fanwo, who said this at a “Thank You Press Conference”, in Lokoja, on Tuesday, said the resounding victory of the APC had strengthened the social contract between the party and the people of Kogi State.

“It has also upscaled the onus of responsibility on us to continue to provide first class schools, health institutions, road infrastructure and many others that the current administration in the state has been doing over the past 7 years and 9 months,” he stated.

Fanwo noted that a member of the party was gunned down in Anyigba for standing his ground to choose the Kogi Agenda over what he described as the sectional and divisive agenda of a candidate who had no interest of the state at heart with the “evil narrative of ballot box snatching without providing proof.”

The party also alleged that thugs loyal to the Social Democratic Party sealed off the homes of many APC chieftains, stopping them from voting, saying: “This is a clear crime against democracy. Our agents were attacked and their tags seized and many of them were barred from accessing collation centres.”

“Those who waged terrorism on our democracy out of desperation to make the impossible possible are today moving from one TV Station to another to cry foul and create a contrary impression when unbiased observers from far and wide have described the election as the freest and most peaceful since the creation of Kogi State.

“This is the height of desperation to distract our common attention from the heist they committed,” it said.

Fanwo said it was laughable that a candidate who claimed to have won only in his zone was crying foul and calling for the cancellation of the results of the areas where he was massively rejected.

He said: “It is akin to a poor student who scored 20% in a test to call for the cancellation of the 80% he missed to make him score 100%. It is ludicrous, pedestrian, senseless and a dubious attempt to deactivate justice and fairness. In the last 48 hours, the social media has been awash with mutilated and manipulated result sheets in favour of the Social Democratic Party where the original results were rewritten by those who are now coming to equity with unclean hands.

“Their ethnocentric Senior Advocate of Nigeria is already writing essays to convince them to hire him for Tribunal cases.

“Their immediate past experience where the Supreme Court questioned his knowledge of law will be child's play as we have enough evidence to prove that the ethnic-centered candidate of the Social Democratic Party actually didn't score as much as was recorded for him at gun point.

“Our candidate and now the Governor-Elect, Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo, won election across the three Senatorial Districts while the ethnic agenda candidate claimed to have won in his own Senatorial District alone. He didn't win any Local Government Area in the West or Central. Ododo won all the Local Government Areas in two of the three Senatorial Districts and went ahead to win one Local Government Area in the East Senatorial District.

“He would have won more in the East but for the daylight robbery of the Social Democratic Party who dangerously attacked members of the All Progressives Congress in the East, leading to the death of one person while many were injured.”

The party thanked the people of Kogi Central for turning out in their thousands to concretise the dominance of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State, noting that “the massive turnout is no surprise as we witnessed a mammoth turnout during our Kogi Central rally. The numbers that came out to vote showed the rally crowd wasn't a ruse.”

APC also commended the people of Kogi West Senatorial District, saying the zone delivered six of the seven Local Government Areas in the District to the party, despite the fact that three parties fielded candidates from the zone.

“Your turnout and massive support for the All Progressives Congress showed your faith in a united and prosperous state where leaders are elected based on competence rather than ethnic bigotry,” it said.

“We thank Mr President for creating a level playing ground for all the candidates. We also thank the leadership of the party and other APC Governors and leaders for rallying behind us to retain one of the most important states in Nigeria in the progressive fold.

“The Governor-Elect, Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo, will not disappoint you all. Governor Yahaya Bello has made it easy for the All Progressives Congress to continue to win elections in Kogi with his heroics in all the sectors of the economy,” the party said.

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