Kogi Speaker Hails Court Verdict on Ododo Candidacy

The Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Aliyu Umar Yusuf, has expressed joy over the judgement secured by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party’s candidate in the November 11 gubernatorial election, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, on Wednesday at the federal High Court Abuja, which affirmed Mr. Ododo’s candidature.

This is contained in a press statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Yabagi Mohammed, in Lokoja on Wednesday.

The Chief lawmaker of the state, said the High Court Judgement which dismissed the case filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi, of the APC against Alhaji Ododo, challenging his emergence in the April 14th primary election.

Yusuf, said the party needs unity of party members to work towards the same direction with common purpose, and urged all stakeholders to join hands with the candidate to ensure sound victory for the party during the governorship election.

The Speaker noted in the statement that Governor Yahaya Bello has done a lot for the state in the past seven and a half years of his leadership.

Speaker Yusuf, enjoined citizens to give massive support to the party to ensure sustained dividends of democracy.

Rt. Hon Yusuf noted that the APC does not need what he described as ‘frivolous petition’ among its members at the crucial period of election campaign as Yusuf assured the party of a ‘Clean Sweep’ in the coming election because of the track record of achievements of the APC in the state.

According to the speaker, the APC family in the state should be sport manly in all political contests to avoid acts that could overheat the politics of the state, adding that governance thrives only where good work such as Governor Yahaya Bello’s achievements in the state are celebrated by party members without ill-will.

“As far as Kogi is concerned, we gave massive support to the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by voting overwhelmingly for the APC and we will do the same in November.

“We cannot allow the work we have done in the last general elections to go to waste by doing otherwise during the governorship poll.

“No genuine member of Kogi State APC would use any frivolous case to distract our candidate at this critical point.

“Anyone that genuinely has the interest of the party at heart, must allow the reconciliation mechanism of the party to address all grudges.”

Ododo had emerged APC governorship candidate with 78, 704 votes to beat six other contestants during April 2023 primaries in the state.