Four governors of the All Progressives Congress, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, David Umahi of Ebonyi, Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa, and host, Ben Ayade of Cross River, today attended the final campaign of the candidate of the APC, Jude Ogbeche Ngaji, in the run-in to Saturday’s national assembly bye-election to fill the vacant Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency seat, vacated by Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, who is now a senator of the Federal Republic.
The appearance of the four governors is seen as a show of strength by the APC, even a direct reply to the political strategy of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which last Saturday, in Calabar, the state capital, had Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, in attendance at her rally to drum up support for her House of Reps candidate, as well as her Akpabuyo State Constituency candidate.
Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, while addressing the crowd in Okpoma, Yala LGA, maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari, would have been in Ogoja for the rally that is very important to him, but for his state visit to Nasarawa state. While pouring encomiums on Ayade, the Kaduna state governor was excited that he was now the only governor of the APC in the South-South region of the country. He further asked the crowd to work with the governor in ensuring victory at the polls.
Our reporter on the ground in Ogoja town, reported in that there was heavy military presence all through the day as hundreds of supporters of the APC, were visible in the ancient town. “Security is on high alert here as it is the reasoning here that this election is a straight political battle between CRS governor Ben Ayade and Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, the PDP senator who represents CR North Senatorial District. We are presently witnessing an influx of persons into Ogoja, for the obvious reason that this election is very important to the PDP and APC. As they match up strength for strength and political intrigues for political intrigues, who ever blinks first will definitely lose this election”, our reporter maintains in a WhatsApp message.
