A formidable “war cabinet” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is firing on all cylinders to “capture” landlocked Kogi State in the governorship ballot on November 21.
Kogi is currently in the column of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose wings the APC clipped in the general election by grabbing Abuja and expanding its foothold in more states.
Kogi is hemmed in by the other five North Central states – Kwara, Benue, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa – all of which the APC won in the 2015 presidential election, except Nasarawa.
John Odigie-Onyegun, basking in that historic feat, has made it clear that Kogi is a must win, to increase to 23 the total number of states ruled by the party; with an eye also on Bayelsa where the governorship vote holds on December 5.
The APC chairman said while inaugurating the 24-man national campaign council for the Kogi ballot that the party needs to win in order to prove that its victory across the country in March and April was not a freak.
His words: “We are here for a very unique event. Very unique not because it is Kogi State, I assure you even though you want it to be so.
“Kogi is providing the APC with the very first major opportunity to test its continued popularity and acceptability, therefore it places a very big onus on you, on the campaign committee, and on us.
“It is an election we must win. There is no second or third position. This election we must win. We must win it to prove the point that our winning at the last election was not a fluke.
“In Kogi you are facing yet another incumbent government in the opposition, one of the relics of the party that we just threw out of office and so Kogi must continue this trend of our unstoppable change.”
Oyegun told the council members that “to win Kogi State, I am glad to say we have a very formidable campaign team with all the governors of the zone agreeing willingly to participate shoulder to shoulder.
“The task before this campaign council is enormous, but I will summarise it. They are to put together the financial resources, human resources, the logistics, and whatever it takes to ensure that Kogi joins the progressives folds.”
Campaign Council Chairman and Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, promised to spearhead victory for the APC in Kogi, which he enthused will stop being in the opposition from November 21.
Other members of the council include Governors Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Senator Ifeanyi Ararume; and senators from Kogi.
Before the general election, the APC controlled only Nasarawa, and the PDP dominated the other five states in the North Central.
Now, the APC seeks to control all of the zone.
