A former Senator representing Kogi East (1999-2003), Alex Kadiri, has described an earlier campaign by persons believed to be supporters of immediate past Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, for the position of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a crude joke taken too far.
Kadiri who said this in an interview in Abuja on Sunday, explained that those behind the campaign were enemies of the party, working in cohorts with 5th columnists in the APC to weaken it in order to destroy it.
The elder statesman, who was one of the founding leaders of the party, especially in Kogi State, took a swipe at some of the party leaders in the state for indulging in the excesses of the Bello administration.
He said, “I am from Kogi State; no matter what I have become in Abuja today, I cannot forget that I come from Kogi. And that state has been messed up completely by the APC. The truth must be told: I am not interested in what Tinubu thinks; I am interested in what Kogi people think; I am not looking for a job; a lot of people are quiet because they have the hope they can be given an appointment.
“Alex Kadiri has no desire for any appointment. I have been a Director General, a Senator, the Chairman of a University Council, and permanent Permanent Secretary. What else can I look for that God has not done for me?
“What is going on in Kogi, and people are afraid or tired of talking because the APC doesn’t care? We, the national party’s secretariat, keep quiet and watch what’s going on.
“You can imagine the inauguration of the new governor, who failed to recognize the Chairman of the Traditional Council, Ata Igala. The governor and his wife kneeled down for the outgoing governor at the inauguration ground. What a shame.
“That same way, a serving senator removed his shoes and kneeled down for the one they call himself, White Lion. Of all the atrocities that man has committed and of all the money they have wasted doing nothing, he now wants to be the chairman of the party.
“What manner of ruling party is this? Tell me. I cannot continue to take this nonsense. A failed governor now wants to be the national chairman of the party; he wants to take over from Ganduje.
“Don’t we have standards? Now, immediate past Kogi Governor of Kogi, Yahaya Bello’s posters are all over Abuja; he wants to take over from Ganduje. How can we go from one failure to another?”