NGO Commends Kogi APC Primaries, Says Exercise Free, Credible

Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja

A non-governmental organisation, the National Independent Democratic Observers (NIDO), has commended the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the gubernatorial primaries held in Kogi State, which it described as free, fair and credible.

This was contained in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Habbey Oladejo, copy of which was made available to journalists in Lokoja, stating that from the field reports from its observer team, Alhaji Usman Ododo was clearly the most accepted by the majority of the party members.

The statement read: “NIDO as a non-profit, non-governmental and non-affiliated organization that has been part of election monitoring across the country, including monitoring party candidate selection process, with the aim of ensuring democratic tenets, permeates every nook and cranny of the society.

“We in conjunction with other like-minded organisations carried out comprehensive, independent observation and monitoring of the primary election in each of the 21 local government areas of Kogi State without meeting with any of the 18 aspirants jostling to govern the state or their agents throughout.

“While the comprehensive report of our observations from the state APC gubernatorial primaries is almost 90 percent ready and due for public presentation, this preliminary release suffices to set the record straight, owing to numerous reports flying across the media space on the primaries.

“The Kogi APC primaries which produced Ododo as the party’s gubernatorial standard bearer was credible, transparent and largely a true reflection of the party members’ wishes across the 21 local government areas of the state.

“This is without prejudices to the avoidable lapses which are mainly logistical shortcomings on the part of the party, inadequate information dissemination among others.”

According to him, “His victory was well deserved, and the results of the poll truly reflected the will of the people.”