Kogi PDPs Rubble After Electoral Storm - OGFUNDS BLOG

The Kogi Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary has come and gone, but not the sour taste and schism it left in the wake of the emergence of Engr. Musa Wada as the partys flag bearer, with his elder brother and former governor of the state, Capt. Idris Wada coming third in the race.

A summary of the outcome of the last Kogi Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary, which threw up Engr. Musa Wada as the partys standard bearer for the November 16 governorship election in the state, manifested in the new trend of dynastic tendencies in the affairs of the major opposition party in the state. It also turned out in the main as a Kogi East outing; Kogi East being home to the majority Igala tribe.

While two families, those of Idris and Wada, played a central role in the process, that of the latter may have more to contend with afterwards. Of the 13 aspirants who contested the PDP governorship primary, the Wada family paraded two, namely the eventual winner and his elder brother and immediate past governor of the state, Capt. Idris Wada.

Before the exercise, self-acclaimed political pundits in the confluence state had narrowed the contest down to a two-race horse between the immediate past governor and the son of another former PDP governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris.

The PDP had ruled Kogi for 13 unbroken years before the All Progressives Party (APC) wrested power from it, at the November 21, 2015 state governorship poll.

At the end of the shadow election, Engr. Musa Wada, younger brother to former Governor Idris Wada and son in-law to another former governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris (Ibro), emerged the partys candidate for the forthcoming governorship election in the state, followed closely by Abubakar Ibrahim Idris, Ibros son and elder brother to Eng. Musa Wadas wife.

Capt. Idris Wada, the immediate past governor and elder brother to the eventual winner, and in-law came third.

Engr. Musa Wada had scored 748 votes to clinch the partys ticket, while Abubakar Mohammed Ibrahim, son of former Governor Ibrahim Idris (Ibro), who took up the acronym AbuIbro during the build-up to the exercise polled 710 votes. The immediate past governor, Capt. Idris Wada, came third with 345 votes, while Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) polled 70 votes to emerge fourth.

Other aspirants included Aminu Suleiman (55 votes), Victor Adoji (54 votes), Erico Joseph (42 votes), Retired AVM Saliu Atawodi (11 votes), Emmanuel Omebije (9 votes), Mohammed Shuaibi (4 votes), Bayo Michael (2 votes) and Kabiru Haruna (0 vote).

In the pulsating drama that characterised the primary, the highpoint of which was the invasion of the Lokoja Confluence Stadium venue of the exercise by yet-to-be identified gunmen, which brought it to an abrupt end in the early hours of upper Wednesday, the purported initial bad blood that ensued between the Wadas was highlighted by a security detail, who spoke under the condition of anonymity.

He said: When the shootings started and myself and other security agents who were meant to safeguard the Wada brothers had managed to get the younger Wada into a waiting SUV, the former governor bluntly refused to join his younger brother in the same vehicle, notwithstanding the clear and present danger that stared us all in the face.

Voting by the delegates had ended and sorting of ballots was in progress when the gunmen stormed the venue around 1.45 am, causing a stampede. Indeed, the votes in eight of the 10 ballot boxes had been counted before the disruption, following which the Governor Umar Fintiri-led election panel called a meeting of all the 13 aspirants, at the end of which it was agreed that the process should continue.

Counting resumed at a lodge adjacent to the Government House Lokoja, with all the aspirants and their agents present. Five journalists were allowed into the premises and the rest, like they say, is now history.

Between the Wadas, it would appear that blood affinity is prevailing as they strive to put the acrimonious contest behind them. The former governor was said to have declared afterwards that he held no grudge against his younger brother and expressed his readiness to work for the victory of the party come November 16.

An observer said: The delegates were wise. They rejected Ibro and Wada (the two former governors) because of the bitter political rivalry between them and picked somebody in between. Wada, after the election, said he would not appeal. He also decided to call his brother to congratulate him, and that settled the political feud. It is more complex in Ibros family, but I believe that commonsense will prevail.


The intricate web of rancour connecting the Idris and Wada family may, however, take time to untangle. While relations between former Governor Ibrahim Idris, who some prefer to call the Original Ibro, and his successor, Capt. Wada, who the former shoved down the throats of the then ruling PDP hierarchy back in 2011, even after a candidate had emerged in the person of Jibrin Isah (Echocho), now a senator (APC-Kogi East), remains at low ebb. The connect between both can, however, not be wished away.

At the last Kogi PDP congress in Lokoja, Capt. Wada, who arrived the venue of the exercise ahead of Ibro, refused to acknowledge the formers presence, not to talk of shaking hands or exchanging pleasantries. And even though both were two seats apart, having between them Tunde Ogheha and Yomi Awoniyi, Wadas former deputy, the latters focus would not be distracted from his mobile phone as he focused his attention on the phone in his hands.

Not only is the PDP governorship flag bearer for the November 16 poll the younger brother to the immediate past governor, he is also a son-in-law to his brothers benefactor-turn-foe. Feelers have it that another son of Ibro was the major backer of the now failed bid of the last Kogi PDP governor to stage a comeback to the Government House, Lokoja.

Without any shade of doubt, the Kogi State PDP primary was in the main a two-way family affair, with the Ibro family as the fulcrum. His first son, Abubakar Ibrahim Idris, came second in the PDP primary, while Suleiman, another son of Ibro, supported Engr. Musa Wada, the eventual winner, who is married to Suleimans younger sister.

Capt. Wada, it is claimed, took responsibility for the PDP governorship flag bearers upkeep and schooling in years past.

Engr. Wada was said to have been the initial choice of Ibro as his successor, but for the intervention of the patriarch of the Wada family, the late Pa Wada Ejiga, who pleaded with him to accord first consideration to the elder brother, who eventually succeeded Ibro in office.