The Kogi State Government has attributed the general apathy that greeted Saturday’s House of Assembly election to loss of hope by the opposition political parties in the state.
Abubakar Bashir-Gegu, the state Commissioner for Solid Minerals, made the assertion on Saturday in an interview.
Bashir-Gegu, who spoke with newsmen in Gegu shortly after touring some polling units within his community, claimed that the opposition parties had come out with full force in the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress, but they were disappointed.
He said: “In fact, their joints became very weak after they couldn’t dislodge APC.
“They have completely lot hope to contest this House of Assembly election.
“In virtually all the 21 local government areas of Kogi, you could see general apathy simply because the opposition parties shied away from the polls.
“Even though we are not happy about the low turnout of voters in this assembly election, we are optimistic of clearing or winning all the 25 assembly seats in the state.
“Our joy is that this election went on smoothly, peacefully and successful devoid of any rancour across the state.”
Bashir-Gegu also attributed the superb and victorious performance of the APC in Kogi State to the wonderful and glorious performance of Governor Yahaya Bello’s administration in the last seven years.
The Commissioner said Bello is a unique leader who has human feelings as demonstrated in his fight against the Central Bank of Nigeria’s draconian monetary policy at the Supreme Court alongside two other governors.
Bashir-Gegu called on all members and friends of the APC to continue to give their unalloyed support to Bello to continue with the good works he is doing for the desired growth and development of the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that most of the polling units visited recorded less than half of the number of voters that participated in the February 25 polls.
At Gegu near Borehole Polling Unit, of 1098 registered voters, only 400 persons voted, while at Under Tree Opposite Magistrate Court, only 95 persons voted.
The story was the same in most of the areas visited in Lokoja, Koton Karfe, Adavi and Ajaokuta Local Government Areas, where some residents said that they avoided the assembly polls “because our votes no longer count”.