By Chuks Ehirim
Assistant Editor, North
Five days to the inauguration of Yahaya Bello as Kogi State Governor, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned outgoing Governor Idris Wada against selling off government assets and awarding last-minute shady contracts.
Wada is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
State APC Chairman, Haddy Ametuo, gave the warning in Abuja.
He said the party has information that the Wada administration, which has already incurred about N50 billion debt for the incoming administration, is bent on awarding phoney contracts and auctioning government properties at ridiculous prices.
He urged political appointees and civil servants to obey the law rather than aid and abet crime.
“It has come to our notice that the outgoing Idris Wada-led PDP administration has embarked on the illegal sale of government properties and careless looting of the state treasury.
“We are also not comfortable with the unwholesome manners of awarding major contracts at this dying minute when the governor should be preparing to hand over to our great party, the APC,” Ametuo said.
The original APC Governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, died while the election results were trickling in on November 21.
Election had not taken place or were cancelled in 91 polling units with 49,953 registered voters.
Audu got 240,867 votes and was leading with 41,353. Wada scored 199,514.
Those with Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the rerun ballot on December 5, 2015 were far fewer than 40,000. That made the election a straight fight between the PDP and APC.
When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the election on November 21 inconclusive, the APC opted for Bello as substitute for Audu.
Audu’s running mate, James Faleke protested.
“In law and logic, no new candidate can inherit or be a beneficiary of the votes already cast, counted and declared by the INEC before that candidate was nominated and purportedly sponsored,” Faleke wrote through his counsel, Wole Olanipekun.
But the APC stuck with Bello, and he won the rerun.
