‘Our candidate didn’t carry us along’ — AA says party won’t challenge Kogi guber

December 11, 2023 4:43 pm

The Action Alliance (AA) says it would not challenge the outcome of the Kogi governorship election because its candidate in the poll “deliberately built an edge around himself”.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Usman Ododo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the November 11 off-cycle governorship election.

Ododo polled 446, 237 votes to defeat Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who came second with 259,052 votes.

Dino Melaye, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 46,362 votes.

Speaking with reporters on Monday in Abuja, Adekunle Omoaje, national chairman of AA, said the party is not interested in pursuing a case against Ododo’s victory.

Omoaje said Olayinka Ibrahimoh, Kogi governorship candidate of the party, operated without carrying the party along during the period of the election.

“From the moment INEC published the final list of candidates for the Kogi gubernatorial election, Olayinka Ibrahimoh, our adopted candidate for that election, deliberately built an edge around himself against the party, making it difficult to relate with him,” he said.

“Every overture to him from the party’s leadership to discuss his plans for the election was rebuffed with bold-faced arrogance.

“The Deputy National Chairman of our great party, in person of Alhaji Ibrahim Isa, who led the national team to Kogi State to monitor the election, was left an orphan in Lokoja throughout his team’s stay in the state. Not even a single call was made to him all through.

“A few days ago, we heard that the party in Kogi State had approached the Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal with a petition on behalf of the party without the national leadership knowing it at all.

“We have come a long way in political engagements to understand the dangers involved in such isolated arrangements.

“We will not allow our party to be rubbished again as we witnessed in the recent past with such arrangements that isolated the national office in similar processes.

“Consequent upon the aforementioned, we are stating clearly here that our party; the Action Alliance has no hand in the matter before the Kogi State governorship election tribunal and we say unequivocally that we are not interested in the matter at all. “