I’m on a rescue mission in Kogi, says Audu

Alhaji Mohammed Audu, All Progressives Congress (APC)’s aspirant in Kogi Governorship elections says he is on a mission to rescue the state from poverty, unemployment, infrastructure deficit occasioned by bad governance.

Audu said this on Thursday at a news conference shortly after picking his expression of interest and nomination forms at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.

The aspirant, son of a late former governor of the state, Abubakar Audu, said he offered himself because of the pervading dissatisfaction of the Kogi people with the current administration which is threatening the victory of APC in the forthcoming elections.

“I have approached the party to offer myself for service in order for our party to get a new lease of life,” he said.

Audu recalled the circumstances that led to the death of his father during the 2015 elections when the APC wrestled power from the then ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

“We fought so hard to take the plum job from the PDP in 2015, to the extent that the battle caused our leader his life.

“Our party decided to use its internal mechanism to ensure continuity by selecting one of ours.

“Today, we cannot exactly say that the change, the people yearned for that made them to vote for us had been realised

“The dividends of democracy that the APC promised Kogites during the electioneering campaign between 2014 and 2015 have not been delivered,’’ he said.

The aspirant explained: “As at today, our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country. Our civil servants are not being paid their salaries.

“Kogi people do not have access to basic, critical amenities and infrastructure while insecurity has become the order of the day in the state. Why should these be?

Audu said that all the efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari’s led federal government to salvage the state from the myriad of problems had yielded no results because of bad leadership.

“That is why I have come here today, to offer myself for service, to change the current administration in Kogi and save our party from imminent defeat by PDP,’’ he said.

It was reported that Dr Frankland Briyai, APC aspirant in the Nov. 16 Bayelsa Governorship election also picked his expression of interest and nomination forms on Thursday.

Briyai, a former lecturer and Resident Electoral Commissioner in Cross River, said he would use his experiences to reactivate decade infrastructure deficit in the state.