As the August 29, 2015 Kogi State governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, draws nearer, a former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, has picked his nomination form.
The aspirant, who was accompanied by a large number of supporters, addressed journalists shortly after obtaining the form at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja, Monday.
Also on his entourage to the secretariat was the former Governor of Kano State and incumbent senator representing Kano Central in the Senate, Engr. Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Audu, who said he was in the governorship race “to take the state out of the woods”, described others in the race for the party’s ticket as “young school leavers, who do not have the experience to rescue the state from its current sick condition”.
The former governor, who said he came under intense pressure to run for the governorship of the confluence state, revealed that on two different occasions in Lokoja, the state capital, he had to succumb to the wishes of a large number of youths who waylaid him on the highway and asked him to throw his hat in the ring.
He said to demonstrate their seriousness, his supporters, who were calling on him to run for the governorship position, contributed N5.5m towards the purchase of the nomination form.
“The baby is sick. Nothing is happening in the state other than poverty staring everybody in the face”, he said
Audu said having been governor of the state between 1992 and 1993 and again between 1999 and 2003, the state was his child, adding that he could not afford to fold his arms and allow the state’s condition to get worse.
He said, “The state is my baby, having been governor between 1992 and 1993 before it was truncated, and later again 1999 and 2003 under this current constitution. I was rigged out.
“When the electorate said the state is sick, it will not be responsible of me as the father of the state to abandon the state”.
Speaking in support of Audu, Senator Kwankwaso assured the people of Kogi State that the former governor would deliver the state from its present state.
He drew parallel from his experience as a comeback governor of Kano, eight years after he lost re-election.
“I was able to do what I did in Kano State because I was out of office for eight years. He (Audu) has stayed more than eight years out of office”, Kwankwaso said.
