A front line All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant from Kogi West, Prince Rotimi Yakubu Obadofin, and another APC aspirant, Chief Clarence Olafemi, yesterday dissociated themselves from the purported selection of a consensus candidate ahead of the party’s primary.
Reacting to the endorsement one of the aspirants while speaking to newsmen in Lokoja yesterday, Obadofin who is a former acting governor of Kogi State, stated that he and others were not part of the process leading to the consensus arrangement, lamenting that all stakeholders have not been carried along in the process of selection, which he said was shrouded in secrecy, thereby making it difficult to know how the coalition arrived at that decision.
As stated by him, he never withdrew from the race as being speculated, saying that the news making the rounds that he has stepped down was false.
He described the rumour mongers as those that were afraid of going into the primaries.
His words: “What kind of mischief is that? I was never at any meeting with anyone, so where did that rumour come from? I have my party nomination form with me, so who is afraid? Our people should simply ignore them.”
Olafemi also, yesterday, assured all his supporters that he was still in the race, describing his purported agreement to step down or be the running mate to another aspirant as falsehood and called on his supporters and party members to ignore such rumour.
He said he has neither stepped down, nor agreed to be deputy to any other aspirant, adding that the rumour was fabricated by those that do not mean well for state.
“I have collected my intent and nomination forms already. How can somebody now say I have stepped down? I am in the race to win and have not stepped down for anyone. How can they say I have agreed to be running mate to Prince Abubakar Audu or any other person? These people are going too far in their campaign of calumny and I am calling on my supporters to ignore it. They do not mean well for the people of Kogi,” he stated.