Kogi APC crisis deepens as Audu/Faleke loyalists opt out of congresses, say ‘Bello has hijacked process’

Members of the Audu/Faleke Political Organisation in Kogi State have opted out of the forthcoming congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC), according to a statement in Lokoja on Thursday.
Mr Duro Meseko, the organisation’s Director, Media and Publicity, signed the statement.
Meseko said the group was abandoning the congresses because Governor Yahaya Bello had allegedly hijacked the process.
“Now that the party’s congresses are here, the governor, true to type, has hijacked the whole processes, handing over the ward congresses to his local government administrators to compile names from wards to local government areas.”
He accused the governor of using the administrators to function virtually as alternative party executives and refusing to fund the authentic party executives.
He also cited the inability of the national leadership of the party to live up to expectations as another reason for boycotting the congresses.
“The National leadership of the party has also not lived up to expectations in most cases regarding Kogi issue.
“For instance, the letter from the National Secretariat of the party on the organisation and conduct of the congresses was handed over directly to the governor instead of the leadership of the state executive.”
Meseko also mentioned the inability to reconcile various factions in the state branch of the party as part of the reasons for the group’s decision.
He further alleged that thugs were being armed to attack members of the group at the venue of the congresses, adding that the decision to boycott the congresses would safeguard lives and property.
The group, therefore, directed its members in the three senatorial districts of the state to boycott the congresses.