KOGI 2023: We’ll Reclaim Our Mandate — Agunloye, SDP National Secretary

A Public Statement by Dr Olu Agunloye, National Secretary, Social Democratic Party (SDP)

7 December 2023

The national leadership of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, has noted that the Kogi Election Petition Tribunal has now shifted its venue to Abuja. It will no longer sit in Lokoja. This became known after the Nigeria Police publicly disclosed that the Secretary of the Election Petition Tribunal, Mr. David Mike Umar had reported to have been robbed of the vital documents and petitions on Monday, 4 December 2023, by gunmen in broad daylight in Lokoja.

That gunmen and hoodlums, in a false flag operation, as grimly stated by the Tribunal Secretary, attacked the Tribunal and carted away “all the documents including Petitions filed by four (4) Parties, namely Action Alliance (AA), Action People’s Party (APP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP)”, against the declaration of APCs Alhaji Usman Ododo as Governor-Elect is purely a criminal activity which the law enforcement agents should tackle.

That the locations of INEC and its officials in Kogi have been attacked by thugs and arsonists is another criminal act that should be investigated and tackled. Also, that videos of persons thumbprinting ballot papers in Kogi State days after the election are flying around is yet another criminal act staring at the face of law enforcement agencies.

Although these criminal acts are not out of character or unexpected, they go a long way to support the strong views that the mandate of Alh Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, which was indeed stolen, is set to be retrieved and claimed by Muri and the good people of Kogi State.

None of these criminal acts will stop the Tribunal which is now set to sit at the Federal Capital in Abuja. Even when the Tribunal had lost all its documents and Petitions to gunmen, who appeared sympathetic with declared Governor-elect Usman Ododo, the tribunal will still sit. All that will be required is that the respective parties would be called upon to deliver copies of their Petitions to the Tribunal along with the payment receipts. The SDP is ready with theirs.

Now that the Tribunal has been relocated to Abuja, hope is again restored that all will be well. Nigerians expect that justice will be served without any or much criminal interferences, and Alhaji Muritala Ajaka will claim his mandate back. The goodness of this is that for vast majority of Kogi people, mostly disenfranchised or deprived over the years, a new era of creating and spreading wealth instead of violence will soon commence under Alhaji Muritala Ajaka. Muri and the people of Kogi will then take over and start to chart new paths for the Kogi development agenda for youths’ employment and empowerment, women emancipation, and technological and industrial transformation with no time or space for witch-hunting, retaliations, or false flag operations.

Indeed, a new era of development is beckoning in Kogi State.

Dr. Olu Agunloye