Richard Elesho
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, PCC in Kogi State has expressed shock at the number of people that attended the campaign rally of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on Saturday, accusing the opposition party of renting the crowd from seven neighbouring states.
Director of Publicity of the Council, Kingsley Fanwo, made the remarks at a press briefing in Lokoja on Monday. In his statement captioned “the many lies of PDP and it’s traditional illusions in Kogi State” Fanwo described those who decamped to the PDP as expired politicians.
He said the good works of Governor Yahaya Bello and President Muhammadu Buhari have endeared the APC to Kogi people assuring that the party will win all the elections from top to bottom in the State.
“The umbrella circus did not need anyone to tell them that Kogi people have rejected them. Even though they bused in supporters from outside the state to beef up appearances, the modest crowd was eloquent enough. Crafty camera angles could not hide yawning gaps in the stands and it was painfully obvious that the former ruling party had been fittingly reduced to a shadow of itself in Kogi State over the last 7 years.
“What they said would be an overflow rally that would bring our city to a standstill for the day was barely registered on the radar of hardworking Kogites. The innocents who did turn out for them in the vain hope of hearing anything which might persuade them to reevaluate their poor opinion of the PDP left reinforced in their disdain for people whose stint in government brought their state, nay, country, to their knees.
“Even their diehard members who came in expectations of the usual largesse associated with the party in her heydays became dispirited when the lies started. The rest of our people went about their normal businesses, utterly disinterested in the hollow antics of a party that once wasted 13 precious years for them”.
“Dismayed by the poor turnout, the PDP resorted to theatrics. It rolled out expired individuals who had been expunged from the ranks of the APC for their unsavoury deeds and characters and proceeded to canonise them. The rally turned into a farce when people like the former Deputy Governor of the State, Elder Simeon Achuba and the former speaker of the state assembly, Rt Hon. Alfa Imam were repackaged for Atiku as Kogi APC stalwarts who were decamping to the PDP at the rally”