Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has continued to regain grounds in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the build up to the party’s primary election for the governorship ticket intensifies. The Governor may not have suffered obvious losses overtime but he has been contending with shaky grounds over caustic attacks from internal opponents in the party.
While crossing the screening hurdle, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday upheld the APC to conduct indirect primary for the nomination of the party’s candidate in the November 16 governorship election in the state.
National Daily learned that the presiding judge, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, in his judgment on Monday, dismissed two suits filed by some APC members in Kogi State challenging the decision of the APC national leadership to conduct indirect primary election in the state which some governorship aspirants protested was influenced by Governor Bello and were agitating for direct primary election.
Reports indicated that the first suit requested the court to determine the true leaders of APC from the two factions of the party in the state, seeking recognition as the genuine party leadership.
It was also said that some APC members in the second suit challenged the adoption of indirect primary election endorsed by the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to nominate the party’s candidate for the governorship election.
In the judgment, Justice Taiwo dismissed the first suit for being statute barred on the grounds that it was not heard within the 180 days stipulated under Section285(10) of the Constitution.
The Judge had pointed out that since the second suit was predicated on the first suit which had been dismissed, it was unnecessary determining issues raised in the suit on the grounds that they have become academic. accordingly, both suits were dismissed.
Governor Bello and his supporters were alleged to have lobbied for the adoption of indirect primary election in Kogi State, while other aspirants opted for direct primary election which they considered more transparent.
Meanwhile, Governor Bello may have been using the incumbency powers at his behest to consolidate on his electoral fortunes in the build up to the November polls.