Kogi APC primary: Delegates lists were changed hours before election, Senator Adeyemi alleges

The senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, Smart Adeyemi, has described the Kogi West APC senatorial primary which he lost as a charade of an election marred with irregularities.
Adeyemi lost the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for Kogi West Senatorial District to Sunday Karimi at the party’s primary held on May 28, 2022 in Kabba, Kogi.

At the end of the election, Hon. Sunday Karimi scored 288 votes while Muyiwa Aina came second with 73 votes.
Senator Smart Adeyemi scored 43 votes while the only woman in the race, Doyin Eshanumi scored 1 vote.
While narrating the irregularities that characterised the inglorious primary election, the lawmaker said he participated in the primary against the advice of the state’s APC chairman, Abdullahi Bello, who, he said, asked him to step down and work fully for the presidential bid of Governor Bello. 
According to him the delegates were replaced with those not from Kogi West 24 hours to the primary, which, he said, was held under extremely hostile environment.
“Let me state unequivocally and without ambiguity, that the elections which took place on the 22™ of May, 2022 in Kogi State were neither free nor fair.
“It is on record that the list of delegates was changed twenty four hours to the elections proper. Furthermore are that individuals who are not from Kogi west were brought in to vote under extremely hostile environment with militants, armed men, and unidentified thugs in their numbers.
“This was apart from authorised security agents who were present to observe the event and ensure law and order.

“Very crucial is the fact that the returning officer, Bashir Gegu had once aspired to run for this same office, and is a sitting commissioner in Kogi State.
“As soon as he was announced as the returning officer, my ward wrote a formal letter to protest his nomination as it would have been impossible for him to be fair and just. On the day of the election, he personally compelled people to vote his own choice, with most of the commissioners present in the voting hall. “Delegates were further made to comply with orders by saying they were unable to write and therefore a designated person commenced voting on their behalf.”

Adeyemi, who chairs the Senate Committee on Aviation, said he had petitioned the APC national body over the “unfair” primary for record purposes.
He said a closed meeting, called by the state’s party chairman at the instance of the governor, to pressure him to withdraw from the race was deadlocked as he insisted on going ahead.
“However, the condition for my stepping aside was to take on a position, chief of staff, which was technocratic in nature when my governor eventually emerges as President, and this did not align with my personal goals and aspirations as a journalist and a crusader for the common man.
“I immediately informed Abdullahi, unambiguously that my training as a journalist will not permit me to aspire to this role and as such, there was the need to fine tune things to accommodate everyone. “The meeting ended inconclusively, and thereafter, events metamorphosed into threats that | must not contest in the primary elections.

He indicated that despite Governor Yahaya Bello’s opposition to his return to the Senate, he has no regret supporting his presidential bid.

“I want to say that I have no regrets in supporting and standing for the Kogi State Government at all given times. I have no regrets supporting the Governor of my State, Yahaya Adoza Bello, it remains the proper thing to do. And we must always endeavour do what is right,” Adeyemi said.

“The accusation that I had stepped on toes by my position on contemporary national issues constitutes a major part of my many offences, and I have absolutely no regrets on the matter.

“If the hands of times are turned, I will stand in the same position, speak my mind, the minds of the common man on the streets and project only those values which I believe in,” he added.