Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman has said that the erstwhile Governor of Kogi State, Ibrahim Idris, mounted pressure on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to annul the primary poll that produced him as Kogi Central Senatorial candidate of the party in January, 2011.
The Senator, stated this at a press conference, jointly organised by him and Senator Adeyemi Smart from Kogi West to debunk the claim by the former governor that he helped members of the current National Assembly to win election in an interview with a national daily.
A statement signed by Abatemi-Usman’s media assistant, Michael Jegede, quoted the Senator as saying that, “we are cultured people. We are responsible people and by virtue of the office we occupy, we are distinguished gentlemen. We will not want to join issues with such a person (Idris). However, if we let this go without putting the record straight, then, it will be assumed that what he has said about us is true. I sit before you to say very clearly that it was just last month that the Supreme Court finally discharged with the last of the cases against me, instituted by Ibrahim Idris through his sponsored challenger of mine. I have been in court since January 2011 after i won the PDP primaries. Ibrahim Idris as the Governor of Kogi State came to the National Secretariat and caused that an election widely acclaimed by all and sundry to be transparent, free and fair devoid of any form of violence be cancelled. He pressured the National Working Committee to cancel my election alongside the primaries of Kogi West and Kogi East.”
The Niger Delta Committee Vice Chairman, wondered how a man who was busy giving the resources of the government to his opponent, to challenge his victory up to the Supreme Court would come out to say he helped him to get to the National Assembly.
“My victory is of God. The good people of Kogi Central Senatorial District willingly gave me their mandate, which was duly affirmed in the law court despite Idris effort to upturn the will of the people,” he added.
