Former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Usman Jibril (rtd)
By Gabriel B. Agbonika
The former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Usman Jibril, officially joined the list of governorship aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi state when he picked the party’s nomination form in Abuja on July 15, 2019.
He told reporters at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, after he had paid and collected the mandatory N25.5million nomination form, that he took the decision to contest the primary election of the party as a first step towards realizing his ambition to be the next governor of Kogi State come November 2019 Governorship election .
It would be recalled that Admiral Jibril was among several other party aspirants who earlier wrote a petition to the party head office in Abuja rejecting the indirect primary election earlier said to have been approved by the National Working Committee.
He believes strongly that since sovereignty resides with the people, the party must allow its members in Kogi state to decide the mode of its primary election. In his words, “since President Muhammadu Buhari subjected himself to direct primary while seeking re-election, the state governor should also subject himself to direct primary if he is confident in his so-called popularity in the Kogi State”
He maintained that direct primary election is the new trend in the country’s democratic development stressing that Kogi state must not be left behind emphasizing that if Governor manipulate his ways into picking the ticket of the party, All Progress Congress will loose the election.
Speaking further on why he decided to contest the forthcoming election, Admiral Jibril lamented that poverty level in the state has alarmingly grown under the present administration of Yahaya Bello and require an experienced person to urgently halt the trend so as to reposition the state on the part of growth and development. He believes strongly that public servants who have been continually subjected to unnecessary verification exercise in respect of their unpaid salary arrears contributed greatly to the present poverty situation in the state.
He promised to rebuild the state on sound economic principle and fair justice, saying Kogi state at the moment needs a governor with great vision and clear mission that will redesign the ugly structures of the state for a brighter tomorrow.
AVM Atawodi (rtd)
In his words, “there is urgent need for change in Kogi state. We cannot continue the way it has been mismanaged in the last three and half years. We have to rescue Kogi State from the serious challenges it is currently facing.”
Times like this, he pointed out, demands men of vision, experience, courage and political will that can make things happen differently. “We need men who can see challenges and be prepared to confront the challenges. There are challenges in Kogi state and we have to confront these challenges until the state is rescued”, he declared.
In the last few years, he explained, the state has degenerated rapidly as leadership of the state has failed completely to meet the expectations of her citizens especially with the collapsed infrastructural development and the broken down of social amenities for the people.
Admiral Jibril explained that salaries of workers and their allowances as well as gratuity and pension allowances of retired workers have painfully remained unpaid or in most cases paid in percentage and in arrears of between six and thirty months.
In his words, “yet, the state governor continued to tells the whole world cheap lies that his government is not indebted to workers. People are dehumanized and dying as a result of non-payment of salaries. Over 40 present of the work force has been laid off and yet the state still can’t pay salaries. Promotion has stagnated and civil servants in my state have been turned to beggars in order to sustain their families or send their children to schools.”
The former Chief of Naval Staff pointed out that the poverty index in the state is embarrassing and depressing despite the abundant resources available at its disposal. He stressed that the ugly situation must be stopped and changed for better.
However he believes that in the face of these gloomy problems,” there is light at the end of the tunnel under a purposeful, visionary and competent leadership which I intend to provide for the state if I am given the opportunity to become governor in the 2019 election”, he concluded.
Meanwhile, some All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Kogi State under the aegis of Kogi State Stakeholders Forum have warned the National Leadership of the party against using indirect primaries to pick its governorship candidate for the November election.
They said that the victory of APC in 2015 and the events thereafter are still fresh in their memories believing that it will be the height of delusion for any sincere party faithful to assume that the success achieved then can be replicated in the next election if a level playing field is not availed to all aspirants for a free, fair and credible process that will be acceptable to all, irrespective of the outcome.
“To proclaim all is well with APC in the state is deceitful and playing the Ostrich which might have unpalatable consequences for the party in the coming election.
The group said: “we are firmly convinced that direct primaries will enable level playing field for majority of aspirants, pointing out that those who have been clamouring for indirect primary are playing deceptive games as such exercise will confer unmerited advantage on the sitting governor. Indirect primary will merely reduce the electoral process into an unfair, restricted and compromised contest. ”
In a related issue, two governorship aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 26 Kogi State governorship election have expressed fears that the N30.8 billion bailout fund released by the federal government to the state will be used by Governor Yahaya Bello for vote-buying.
The fund, which was released to the state government earlier this month, was meant for payment of workers’ salaries and pensions.
The two aspirants, Mr. Victor Adoji and AVM Salihu Attawodi recalled that the federal government refused to release such funds to the former Kogi governor, Idris Wada shortly before the 2015 election for fears that he might use it for his re-election.
The two aspirants, who spoke to newsmen at separate interviews in Abuja last weekend, said the timing of the release of the fund to Governor Bello was suspicious and wrong.
Adoji said, “I don’t see that money going to be used for what it is allotted for in the first place. It is ill timed, it is improper and it is immoral.”
AVM Atawodi also expressed the same fears but went further to urge the Federal Government, in collaboration with well meaning leaders in the state, to ensure that political thugs employed and armed by governor Bello under the guise of youth empowerment to rig the forth coming election be disarmed before the November 2019 election. This is necessary, he said, in order to ensure a violent free and fair election.
