allAfrica.com: Nigeria: I've Forgiven Ahmadu Ali, Says Idris (Page 1 of 3)

The governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris was in Lagos, weekend, on his way home from the Ummrah (lesser Haj). But, he utilised his brief stopover to interact with some journalists. Abdulrazaque Bello Barkindo was there and reports

The outcome of the fresh election in Kogi State in March this year was clearly a far cry from that of April 2007 in Kogi Central Senatorial District. While the AC won a landslide in 2007, the reverse was the case in the rerun, in which your party, PDP, triumphed. What is responsible for this radical change in the voting pattern?

The truth is that the atmosphere in which the 2007 general election took place in Kogi Central was not normal. In fact, all of them that call themselves AC in Kogi today, were formerly in PDP and today are back and are all for PDP. The problem started in 2007 when for one reason or another, some of them failed to secure the tickets of PDP to contest for the various posts they were aspiring for. They then decided to move into the AC and contest. Some others joined other parties. Some wanted to win at all cost. That was why the election in Central in April 2007 was marred by violence. And the particular areas I mean in Central are Okene, Adavi and Okehi. The other local governments, Ogorimagongo and Ajaokuta have been consistently PDP, you can't change them.

The first three, Okene, Adavi and Okehi, are also PDP, but the people there are interested. And for their interest, they do whatever they can to win. Okene was their main target. The voter population of Okene alone is about 170,000 compared to Ogorimagongo local government area whose voting power is not more than 7,000. So it means, for instance, that if you are contesting for Senate and you capture Okene alone, you can find your way because of the population. So they believed that once they captured Okene and Adavi, they have captured Central.

That was why they resorted to violence to achieve their selfish motives.. But lets be frank with ourselves, there was really no election in Central during the 2007 exercise. They just sat down and used force allocate figures to the parties as it pleased them. They just sat down and said AC has scored 160,000 votes, PDP 124 only. How do you expect PDP to get only 124 votes.

So after they had given themselves the numbers they wanted, the electoral commissioner said no way that the result would not stand but then they threatened to blow off the INEC headquarters. So in order to allow peace to prevail, the result was allowed to stand. So that was the magic of the so-called AC victory in Central in the 2007 election. They did all that under the guise of pursuing the Ebira agenda. But during the last fresh gubernatorial election in March this year it was not possible for them to lay claim to be fighting for the Ebira agenda. The people were able to find out the truth last time and that was why they voted overwhelmingly for me and the PDP in the re-run. Now the whole AC in Kogi wants to return to the PDP because that is where they belong originally. We have already met and finalized the groundwork. The only thing that is left now is for them to announce publicly that they have returned to the PDP fold.

For me, I have no problem with that. The only problem left is what to do about the boys that they introduced to violence. How do you recover the arms from them? That is the big question. Now they can't go home because the same boys they armed have turned the guns against them. Now, these same people who gave arms to the boys have promised to assist the Police to recover same. I pray it works out, because they know who and who are in possession of the guns. But the danger is that some of the boys might have gone into other acts such as armed robbery.

So, all of them in the AC are coming back to the PDP. We held a meeting with them last week before I travelled. Now, we are just going to formalise it. So for me, I'm happy with their return because I need peace in the state.

What is the standing of the ANPP in the state?

Where is ANPP in Kogi State? You may not believe it, when I tell you that ANPP is not on ground in Kogi State. It has no structure here. Party business has to do with structure. If you don't have structure then where is the party? I don't know.

Let me tell you, the ANPP knew they were not going to win so they plotted to create chaos so that people will say there was a problem. Otherwise, why do you need grenades, pump action and AK47 guns? Is it to kill cows or goats? And I begin to ask where we are heading to. You remember Babanawa and co. But God is a wonderful God. And they caught them in Oturkpo.

It's been reported that your opponent in the last election, Prince Abubakar Audu is threatening to go to the tribunal. What's your take on that?

To me there is no problem there. It is his right. Let him go there and prove his case. But what is he going to tell the tribunal? That what happened? Anyway, some of you were there. The election was peaceful, free and fair. Because God is a wonderful God, it worked out like that.

What would be your areas of focus as you begin your fresh tenure?

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