By Bode Gbadebo

Abuja — A large number of protesters yesterday practically shutdown the national headquarters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) calling on the party leadership to reverse the emergence of Prince Abubakar Audu as the APC governorship candidate for the Kogi State November 21 poll over his pending trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Audu had last Saturday, August 29, emerged the party flag-bearer after beating 27 other aspirants in a keenly contested primaries supervised by Governor Nasir El-Rufa'i-led 7-man committee.

Some of the protesters, who carried placards with bold inscriptions like "Kogi State Say No To Audu" and "We Need A Credible Leader In Kogi" among others, were also seen throwing stones at Audu's group of supporters, who had accompanied him to the APC secretariat collect his certificate of return as the party candidate.

The leader of the protesters, Suleiman Muhammad, told journalists in an interview that Audu's ongoing alleged corruption case with the EFCC was enough to disqualify him from the governorship contest.
"We are here to protest against the candidature of Prince Abubakar Audu, under the platform of APC for the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi state. We say no to Abubakar Audu because he has N11 billion Naira corruption case with the EFCC, until he clear himself of the case, he has no moral right to present himself for an election.

But reacting to the development, Audu described the protesters and their sponsors as mischief makers, maintaining that he was innocent until proven guilty by a law court.
"This country's Constitution states that one is innocent until a court prove him guilty. They are the mischief makers.

"90 per cent of the people in the Senate have cases with the EFCC. For the fact that you have case with the EFCC does not make you a criminal. I have contested four different elections since 2007 and I was not disqualified, so what are they talking about. I contested in 2003, 2007 and 2011, what are they talking?
"The case with the EFCC started in 2003 and since then I have been contesting elections. It is those that do not have electoral value that are making noise and using cheap means to discredit me, it is a very unfortunate situation.
"EFFC has so far gone to four different court in Lokoja and when I want to get judgement they will quickly go to another court and restart the case. They are shopping for where they will nail me," Audu said.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the party said the former governor has the capacity to win the November 21 governorship election for the APC, hence his choice by the Kogi APC.
APC deputy national chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shu'aibu disclosed this yesterday when Audu turned up at the party secretariat to collect his certificate of return.

"The condition in Kogi has gone so bad hence the need to bring someone with vast experience to rescue the state from its current state of under-development. Audu has come for Wada to leave the governorship seat," Shua'aibu sai

source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201509031216.html

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