The Kogi State Governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have been conclusively decided but the dust raised by the agitation for power shift and the eventual outcome of the poll may have pitched Ebiras from Central Senatorial District of the state against the Senator representing the zone, Senator Mohammed Ohiare.
The highly political Ebira people, trooped in a long convoy of cars and motorcycles from the Lokoja New Stadium to the centre of the town, chanting solidarity songs and raising curses and insults on the duo of Ohiare and Alhaji Abubakar Sanusi Gamji, who they said were used by former Governor Abubakar Audu, the winner of the primaries, to break the block votes that should have accrued to their brightest chance of producing the governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
Before the primaries, there were speculations that Gamji was brought in Ohiare, with tacit encouragement from Audu, who felt threatened by the growing profile of Bello as an aspirant.
A chieftain of the party, who spoke to DAILY POST in confidence, said Gamji joined the race just two weeks to the primaries, not to win but to destabilise the central zone and provide an easy ride for Audu.
He also alleged that Gamji remains a stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as he has not officially decamped from the party.
“Ohiare and Gamji successfully played the Audu game. Ohiare, in connivance with Audu, brought in Gamji, a PDP member to cause confusion in the central zone and deny the zone the APC ticket.
“It was a known fact that Yahaya Bello was the only threat Audu had and they needed to break his growing influence and make things easy for the former governor”, the chieftain.
Another source told DAILY POST that Ohiare has always been an Audu person and was actually working for him.
“Senator Ohiare worked for Audu and was only pretending to be backing Abubakar Sanusi Gamji. It was pure politics of deceit he played there. I only pity Gamji because he was like a pawn in a game of chess. The intention of the Ohiare group was never about him but Audu”.
The source also added that aside playing the Audu conspiracy, Ohiare was actually on a revenged, haven been enlisted by the late father of Gamji, Alhaji Abu Inihaya, in 2007, into the governorship race against former Governor Ibrahim Idris on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
According to the source, Ohiare, who is.also a sitting Senator at that time, sold most of his landed properties to prosecute the election which he lost to Idris, adding that the Senator only paid back Gamji in the same way his late father treated him and at the same stopping, Yahaya Bello, he and his camp considered too audacious.
Continuing, the source opined that the Ohiare camp and by extension, Senator Ohize, are afraid to allow the younger generation of leaders to take over, especially those they considered too independent, because that may signal their retirement from politics.
DAILY POST reports that Ebiras, in their thousands, marched on foot behind the convoy of the 40 year old business man, Yahaya Bello, from the stadium to his residence beside the Government House, Lokoja on Sunday morning after the announcement of results, a distance of about six kilometres.
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