The All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council in Kogi (KOSACC) accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of hiring supporters from seven neighbouring states for their demonstration last Saturday in Kogi.
Mr Kingsley Fanwo, the Director of Media and Publicity for KOSACC, made the charge during a news conference on Monday in Lokoja.
The PDP was disappointed by the low attendance, Fanwo remarked in his speech titled “The Many Lies of PDP and its Traditional Illusions in Kogi State.”
He claimed that the PDP turned to theatricals by raising the dead in order to declare them saints after they had been booted from the APC for misbehaving.
“The rally turned into a farce when people like the former deputy Governor of the state, Elder Simeon Achuba and the former speaker of the state assembly, Rt Hon. Alfa Imam was repackaged for Atiku as Kogi APC stalwarts who were decamping to the PDP at the rally.
“What Atiku and his entourage might not have known is that this is the same Achuba who was impeached from office by the state assembly for gross misconduct during the first term of the administration.
“Also, Rt Hon. Alfa Imam is another has-been, who has a running battle with his colleagues when he was Speaker of the State House of Assembly. At the cusp of being impeached, he pleaded to be allowed to resign,” he said
He contended that the two were no longer contributing party members and that the victory in 2019 was nonetheless achieved without them.
He emphasised how hollow the PDP gathering in Kogi was, stating that the umbrella circus didn’t need anyone to tell them the people of Kogi had rejected them.
Fanwo emphasised that the former ruling party in Kogi had been reduced to a shadow of itself during the last seven years.
“We know that PDP brought many people from seven neighbouring states for the campaign rally in Kogi.
“Talking about 148,000 defectors at Kogi rally by PDP is too ridiculous and not true,” Fanwo said.
Kogi’s Commissioner of Information and Communication Strategy, Fanwo, declared that the APC administration led by Yahaya Bello had utterly transformed the state.
“The legacy projects executed, some of which were recently commissioned by Mr President, are too numerous to mention here.”
Fanwo further claimed that Atiku’s promise to resurrect the Ajaokuta Steel Company was nothing more than a “morbid joke” that Atiku must have concocted to mock Kogi State and its residents.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has taken a bold step on the gigantic project, and we trust the President in Waiting, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to see the process through.
“The PDP flag bearer also assured the lecture theatre crowd culled for him from seven states that he would win the 2023 Presidential polls. This is the illusion of the decade already, as the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress will resoundingly defeat him.
“We are on course to deliver Kogi State massively for the All Progressives Congress and maintain the legacy of the party in the state under the leadership of Governor Yahaya Bello.
“We urge our members to remain peaceful, and law-abiding, and to continue working hard to ensure that we set a record with our numbers in the February and March polls,” the group said.
Nonetheless, the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) Head of Media and Publicity, Mr Austin Ochu,m, dismissed the charges of APC as the rantings of a sinking party.
‘The insinuation that we hired people from seven states is too very strange and laughable,’ Ochu said, “because we have never, ever engaged in such a merchandise.”
“By that press conference, APC is threatened and jittery that the game is over for them as the people spoke last Saturday that they desperately want change. And the time for that change is now.
“Traditionally, Kogi is a PDP State; we only faulted along the way but thank God we have gone back to the trenches and are ready to make amend and take over the state this time around for the interest and good of our people.
As he put it, “the difference and message is now very clear that the game is over,” and “APC and are now going out flabbing around not knowing what to do.”