Group blames external forces for endless litigations in Kogi

Owing to the continuous legal battle trailing the 2016 Governorship election in Kogi State, a political pressure group, Kogi Democratic Forum (KDF) has accused some “powerful external political forces” for the endless litigations that have attended the emergence of Governor Yahaya Bello.

Leader of the Forum, Alhaji Ozigi Omeiza, during an interview with journalists in Abuja, on Friday, noted that the forces were determined to impose their cronies on the State so that they would continue to plunder its resources to the detriment of the people of Kogi.

Omeiza said, “These forces would not stop at anything to derail Governor Bello, because of his presumed closeness to the APC political establishment and unalloyed loyalty to the president as doing so was believed to be in furtherance of their political agenda in 2019.”

He alleged that one of the top leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-West had planned to infiltrate the Judiciary with a view to scuttling the mandate given to Alhaji Yahaya Bello at the polls.

He however, commended the judiciary for standing firm in the face of media onslaughts that had been launched against judgments of the Election Petitions Tribunal and Court of Appeal, Abuja which all ruled in favour of Governor Bello.

It would be recalled that between June 8 and June 12, 2016, the Elections Petitions Tribunal ruled that Bello was validly elected in the petitions brought by Hon. James Faleke and former Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Both Faleke and Wada proceeded to the appellate courts in Abuja to challenge the Tribunal rulings. In separate judgments delivered by Justice JummaiHannatuShankey and Justice Owoade Mojeed, the tribunal judgments were upheld.

The leader of KDF expressed satisfaction with the various court rulings that validated the nomination and election of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the rightful candidate in the November 2016 Governorship elections.

[mailerlite_form form_id=1]

He expressed optimism that Governor Bello would triumph at the Supreme Court.

Alhaji Omeiza thanked the Governor for his populist-oriented programme which has manifested in the areas of youth empowerment, health care delivery, education, and infrastructural development.