Former governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu, has formally declared intention to contest the November 21 gubernatorial election on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, saying he was on a mission to rescue the state from human inflicted quagmire ravaging it.
Audu said this while addressing a mammoth crowd of party supporters who thronged the Lokoja Township stadium, venue of his declaration on Saturday, regretting that the state was deteriorating in spite of huge monthly allocation accruing to it from the federation account.
On the contentious issue of power shift, which has dominated political discourse in the state in the build up to the forthcoming gubernatorial election, Audu said he consented to the clamour for power shift, but it should be resolved through elaborate dialogue.
Audu, who is also Kogi State APC leader noted that the state of poverty and decay in Kogi is pathetic and must not be left to completely collapse.
He said: “In spite of jumbo monthly allocation coming to Kogi State from the Federal Government, Lokoja is the dirtiest state capital in Nigeria.”
Declaring that Kogi is traumatised, incapacitated and therefore requires urgent intervention, Audu argued that the scope of devastation of the state requires competent and experience hands to tackle it, adding: “The level of devastation in Kogi State is not something that you should leave in the hands of inexperienced person who will learn on the job.
“It is not a job meant for a young man now because the state has taken a bad shape and at sorry stage.
“Is it at this stage you that you will leave it for somebody who is inexperienced or whosoever to bank on trial and error? This will be very dangerous for the state. This is why experience is required; somebody who has done it before, and has done it very well.
“I have no objection in getting a young man, but which young man will be able to do the job, clear the monumental harms done to the state? That is the question and the problem and that is why everybody is clamouring for my return.
“Fortunately for the people of Kogi State, I have just four years and after the one term of four years, I will identify a competent young man and then hand over to him to continue from where I will stop. But that is after I have laid another solid foundation for the state to thrive on.”
In his goodwill message, the senator representing Kogi East senatorial district, Abdulrahman Abubakar, said the people of senatorial zone have resolved to support the ambition of Prince Audu to return to Lugard House, urging other APC aspirants from the zone to drop their aspiration and join hands with Audu to enable them collectively move the state forward.
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