Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Musa Wada on Monday said the success of the November 16 poll will depend on security agencies and the electoral commission.
He raised the alarm that Governor Yahaya Bello was spoiling for violence by arming his supporters with arms and urged security agents to arrest youths with illegal arms.
Wada said Kogites will not accept inconclusive election, which may be orchestrated in the face of an imminent defeat for the governor.
The PDP standard-bearer told reporters in Lagos that the contest will be a defining moment in Kogi, urging the people to prepare for power shift.
Wada urged the National Assembly not to approve the release of N10 billion to the governor during the electioneering, stressing that its release would be in bad faith.
He said under Bello’s leadership, Kogi has become the poverty capital of Nigeria.
Wada said the recourse to intimidation and violence would not save the governor from defeat.
He said Bello will have no achievement to roll out during the campaign because he has been idle at the Lugard House in the last four years.
He said Kogites were fed up with the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration, adding that workers complained of hunger due to the non-payment of salaries.
He said Kogi has been under its knees and the governor cannot justify the huge allocations to the state.
Wada said if Bello wins the election, then, it will not be free and fair.
Urging the electoral commission to gird its loins, he said the agency should improve on its performance in Ekiti and Osun elections.
Wada said: “The abysmal performance of the governor is enough reason for me to confidently say that I have all it takes to win the election. All things being equal, my chances are far brighter than the incumbent based on his very poor performance in the governance of Kogi.
When you go to Kogi State today and sample the opinions of people, everybody is fed up. Ordinary payment of salaries, which is the right of every worker, be it in private or public sector has become an illusion.
When somebody cannot pay ordinary salary, then you can imagine the level of infrastructural decay from the health sector to educational institutions, to maintenance of basic infrastructure like roads.
If as a governor of a state, you can’t achieve those basic things, I wonder what you will campaign with for the people to re-elect you for another term. As far as I am concerned, I have every reason to feel that I have very bright chances of getting to Lugard Government House.
Several times, I have told people that if you performed well as a governor, you have campaigned for yourself indirectly, because what you have done will speak for you. But this present governor has nothing on ground to tell the people of Kogi that he has achieved in the last four years.
“So, we are waiting when the campaign starts what he will tell the people that he has done that will facilitate his re-election in a state where hunger has become the hallmark of the day.”
