Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Kogi East elders, on Sunday, unanimously adopted Victor Adoji as the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the Kogi East senatorial election as the only reliable candidate that can adequately represent the district at National Assembly.
It was learnt that the elders in the district subjected all the senatorial candidates of the parties to a thorough scrutiny before they zero down to the banker who scored the highest votes in all the areas they were put to test.
The decision followed the submission of the report of the political sub-committee of the council which screened and analysed the candidates of the various political parties for the election.
The eleven-man committee headed by Prof. Sunday Opanachi, according to the council, was put in place to facilitate a “viable and smooth political transition and development in the zone”.
The committee was expected to “provide level playing field for contestants to political offices at the local, state and federal levels for the governance of Kogi East senatorial district”.
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The report of the committee signed by Opanachi and the other ten members showed that ten senatorial candidates were invited for interaction but only five attended.
Those invited include Attai Aidoko of the Peoples Democratic Party, Abdulrahman Abubakar of the Social Democratic Party, Victor Adoji of ADC, Jibrin Isah of the All Progressives Congress, Edime Amade of the APDA, Paul Egwu of the Progressive Peoples Alliance and Yahaya Okai of the PPN.
Others were Benjamin Idoko of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, Abdulwahab Yunusa of the Labour Party and Bala Akogu of the PPC.
The committee said it interacted with the candidates with intent of knowing their motivations for seeking the senatorial seat, their vision, mission and development agenda.
“Candidates were specifically asked to identify what they considered the greatest developmental needs of Kogi east and proffer solutions.
“Indeed, they were asked to tell the committee their individual contributions so far to the socio-political, economic, cultural and other developmental needs of the Igala/Bassa people and land.
“The issue of vulnerability to legal and other harrassment also attracted the attention of the committee.
“The committee sought to know how each person emerged as the candidates of their respective parties.
“This was to evaluate the degree of their vulnerability to legal actions capable of bogging down the eventual winner to the neglect of the people and their aspirations.
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“The capacity to generate high-impact campaign, stem thuggery, hooliganism and violence also formed the subject of interaction with the candidates “, said the report.
However, Aidoko of PDP, Isah of APC, Yunusa of LP, Amade of APDA and Benjamin of APGA were the candidates that failed to turn up for the interaction.
The committee stated that the outcome of the interaction showed that Adoji scored 88.8 percent and was recommended for adoption as the Igala/Bassa senatorial candidate for the 2019 election.
The report said, “The committee found in him focused, dynamic, clear-headed and patriotic young man whose antecedent coupled with his vision will propel the Igala/Bassa people and land to heights that could be the envy of other in no distance future”.