 The last time the residents of Kogi states elected their governor on the 16th of November 2019, violence nearly, and I repeat, nearly met the exercise, the election which returned incumbent governor Yaya Bello, for his second and final term was destructed in many polling units in Lokoja, the state capitol, and many other parts of the state. In the last 72 hours to the governorship elections, stakeholders and political parties in Kogi state have signed a peace accord to ensure a violence-free and fair election. The peace accord was signed on Wednesday in Lokoja, the ceremony organized by the KUKA Center and funded by the European Union. Joining us live to discuss this is the Honorable Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kogi state, Kingsley Fongu. Honorable Commissioner, good to have you on. Thank you very much for having me. Why is it that Kogi is somewhat ending the infamy of having its governational elections been tainted with violence? Yesterday, reportedly, free lives were lost. Why? Thank you very much. It's unfortunate that what happened happened, but I would not agree completely with the fact that it's something that has to do with Kogi. It's a national issue and it should be addressed nationally so that there will be less desperation for elections around the country. So it's not peculiar to Kogi state. I am not saying that we are not witnessing one or two incidents of violence in the state as a result of the election, but I am saying by and large it is a national issue and it's not peculiar to Kogi state. And you are very confident too that voters on Saturday when they come out will not be intimidated or will not have to experience some of the reported instances of violence in the last governational election four years ago? I don't believe. I think we are improving in every election cycle. What happened in the last one was not something that some of us would want to experience. Let me give you an instance. The wife of the current deputy governor of the state was shot at a police unit. I think it took the intervention of security agencies to rescue the poor women from the barriers of the guns of the opposition talks. So it's something that I believe there will be a lot of improvement. I have also spoken to the security architecture around the election that will be coming up on Saturday. I am impressed and I believe that the voters will be protected to come out and cast their votes. How is it going campaign-wise especially when there is a perception out there that Governor Yahya Bello is like installing installing his own pulpit and he wants to retire to go and play the Godfather? How is it going? You know you could have the impressions of the ignorance and then people would come out to say a lot of things. But those of us that have worked very closely with a candidate we know he is not a pulpit. We know he is a very brilliant young man a very competent man with a lot of capacity to deliver at the highest level. And that's what is coming to offer. And those who also know the Governor know that it's not someone who they want to control anyone he's not interested in that. I think what he wants is the better and the more prosperous could be state and you know the choice of Amegh Uthman Udo by the delegates that voted during the primary. It's an indication that they have so much confidence to deliver going forward. So it is about the legacy that has been laid in the last seven and a half years and someone who would take it forward and that's why the slogan of the candidates is consolidation and continuity. So it's going to consolidate on what UIB has been able to do and also continue with the very brilliant programs that have been very helpful to the state. So I think that people are comfortable with the system thrown out Amegh Uthman Udo and they know that with him Kogi is in safe hands and Kogi will even be better. A friend was actually telling me you know what this election ought to be a kind of referendum on the performance of of GYB but that unfortunately the heart of opponents may seem to dissipate what could have been an effective referendum. So are you guys now riding on the possibility of the many opposition contestants almost rushing your party back into the government house I don't want to call it what you call it in Kogi. No, we are not looking at it we are not looking at it that way we are very confident that the present administration has done very well and we are also very confident that the candidate has learned statecraft from the best the best governor in the history of their states So it is still a referendum regardless of the number of contestants that are out some are just out to mark the register some are serious contenders some think they are serious but they are not actually serious some think they are serious but people it does not matter they are in the race and it is still a referendum and when the people say that GYB is playing a big role he has to play a big role he is the leader of the party in the state he is the incumbent governor and you know he would want a situation where his projects his policies and programs are continued and even improved upon and that is why someone from the system has emerged that he understands the policies the programs of this present administration that has done so much for the people so when you talk about the referendum it is a referendum what we did between 2016 and 2019 spoke for us in 2019 and we won the landslide in February and in March of 2019 and we came to November to re-elect our governor again and it shows that we have done more than we did the slogan for the second term is doing more for the people and we have actually done more for the people when you look at the number of schools the number of hospitals and all of that then you agree that we have done more and the people will want that system to continue so it is a referendum I agree with that absolutely are you people also you as one of the senior PR managers and PR experts in the government are you people also managing the perception of nepotism that he has split the successor from his village they even said and his local government are the aspects of the areas like Kogi West where the naturally many politicians have naturally thought that the gubernatorial pendulum will be swinging this time around unfortunately you are also ancestrally from Kogi West how are you people managing that let me give you this analogy during the government key primaries of that part I am from Taketei de Otafungo in Mopamuru local government area which is a part of Kogi West I met this man on the road one in my world despite the fact that there were some Kogi West people who were in the country what I tell you is that governance in the state is about capacity and competence we no longer talk about where you come from it is the political convenience of opportunists who talk about where you come from when we go to the hospital to assess Medicare we do not ask where the medical doctor has come from we don't want to know whether he is an outsider what we want is good health and when you bought a taxi you don't ask whether are you a house driver or a medical driver what you want is to get your destination set but politicians with their opportunism would always talk about where is the campaign from and that has been punished in Kogi state with the new governance that UIV has brought when you talk about nepotism it's quite ridiculous in Kogi today everybody knows that UIV is an apostle of unity is an apostle of equality equity justice fairness that has been his watchword and he doesn't just talk about these things every day we see him practicing we have worked with him very closely for the past seven and a half years about what he stands for so it's not about where the candidate has come from that's nothing to do with that I would tell you that if I may this man would know where to be from the west he would still have been the candidate it's about his competence it's about his capacity it's about the belief that we have that he will take the state into a more prosperous future and you are very confident that on Saturday he is going to be the shoe in candidate amongst the other candidates I am already in celebratory mode as I am here we are very very confident you know we have spoken to Kogi we have interacted with them and we know that on Saturday they will vote massively for the APC it is a tradition for the APC to always win we have always been winning since 2015 to 2019 to 2023 both the regular season and the off-circle elections so it's it would be a very big upset which I don't see happening for me whether when and when the landslide I think the constitution now is not about what I would say it's about the margin of victory that's what Kogaks are debating it's not about it's not whether the APC will win or not I must ask you this before before we close it I want to believe that there seem to be a strategy by your team to make sure that the candidate are featured if at all on very few media engagements I get to see you regularly across I'm talking to you now but one has seldom I've not even seen a direct interview by the candidate himself is that a strategy that people are putting into it because it's media shy or what it's not strategy it's about engagement the candidate has been engaged has been talking to people in the rural areas engaging with people directly and always on the road all the time he does not have that luxury of time to be visiting one station or the other but what we can say is that he's a very vibrant young man today we have granted a little bit today and we will start seeing those things in a couple of hours from now he has been very busy but I think he made out time today to talk to journalists so that he will have direct interaction with them it's not a strategy he has been very busy just to see on TV stations moving from one station to the other they have no base political base here so what they want to do is to go to TV stations makes period allegations and then do some kind of scheme on green and then go and see them in their home again and the next day they are visiting TV stations our candidate has been going from one place to the other talking to people we are sure in them that he's going to consolidate and continue with a good legacy that's a perfect place to live in we really want to thank you for guesting on plus politics and for putting some illumination from the perspective of an APC partisan to developments in the gomotoriya contestation in Kogi thank you for featuring