There is unease in Kogi State over the sudden appearance of about 200 riot policemen and military personnel in Lokoja, the state capital.
Those who are on the edge and spoiling for war told The Eagle Online that the police and military personnel were drafted to the state at the prompting of the Presidency and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Both the Presidency and the PDP are said to be bent on the swearing-in of the party’s candidate in the last gubernatorial election, Captain Idris Wada, as the governor of the state.
In fact, a highly placed source in the PDP told The Eagle Online that the acting Governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Abdullai Bello, was summoned to the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the issue yesterday.
Bello reportedly met with the Vice-President, Architect Namadi Sambo, who pleaded with the acting governor to handover to Wada.
On Friday, after the Supreme Court ruled that the tenure of the former Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, had expired along with those of four other state governors since May 29, 2011, Wada was sworn-in by the President of the state’s Customary Court of Appeal, Ibrahim Shaibu Atadoga.
This was after the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Nasir A. Ajanah, reportedly refused to perform the ceremony on the prompting of Idris.
A few hours later, based on a directive by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, that speakers of the five states Houses of Assembly whose governor were sacked should take over the running of their states, Ajanah swore in Bello as acting governor.
But some have alluded a manipulation of the process by Adoke in the case of Kogi State, saying the blanket order he gave was to protect his own interest in the politics of the state.
Adoke is from Kogi State.
Wada had emerged winner in the last gubernatorial election though another aspirant on the platform of the PDP, Jibrin Isah, is still in court contesting his emergence in another primaries after an initial one in which he (Isah) emerged victorious.
The national leadership of the PDP also on Friday said that since there had been an election in Kogi State and Wada was only awaiting swearing-in, Ajanah should, naturally, have handed over to him.
However, The Eagle Online gathered that after Sambo failed to persuade Bello on the need for him to relinquish power to Wada, the Presidency and the national leadership of the PDP have decided to use force to inaugurate Wada, hence the deployment of riot policemen and military personnel.
Bello reportedly told the VP that until the position of the law is altered based on the pronouncement of Adoke, he would not relinquish the position of acting governor.
Bello, this morning, as already reported by The Eagle Online, said that he was firmly in charge of the state and that anyone claiming to the contrary should be ignored.
In a statement in which he also announced the sack of all political appointees appointed by his predecessor, Bello said: “The attention of the Kogi State Government has been drawn to a calculated plot to destabilize and cause a breach of peace in the state.
“Part of the design is to undermine the office of the Acting Governor, by spreading falsehood that he has relinquished his position.
“Accordingly, Government wish to state that the said story is untrue, unimaginable and totally unfounded.
“Government wish to place on record that, the position of an Acting Governor is not a creation of any form of political conjecture but a product of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Furthermore, Government wish to state, that, the Acting Governor was administered with the Oath of office by the Chief Judge of Kogi State on the 27/01/2012, in line with the letters of the Constitution.
“Government wish to assure the people of Kogi State that the Acting Governor will not submit himself to any act that will be deemed to be an affront on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Also today, the state House of Assembly passed a resolution endorsing the continued stay of the acting governor in power.
By a resolution of 17 to five, the House said that since the swearing-in of the governor remains the politically correct position of the Federal Government till date, Bello should not handover to anyone.
The Eagle Online gathered that federal lawmakers and other appointed political appointees from the state were yet to return to Abuja as at the time of filing this report, opting to stay back to watch as the drama unfolded.
One of them told The Eagle Online: “We’ll be here to see how they will use these policemen and soldiers they have given Wada to chase the acting governor out.
“Why is our party behaving like this? Will there be different rules for different states because this directly affects the party?”
Sources said that the policemen and soldiers have restricted movement into the Government House, Lokoja.
“Even members of staff of the place are being searched seriously before being allowed into the place,” a source added.
It was learnt that as at press time, Bello was till in Abuja.
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