By Mudasiru Ndarani
A pressure group from Kabawa Community of Lokoja, ward E, Progressives, has criticised the large number of aspirants from other wards jostling for the APC ticket for the September 9, Lokoja Local Government chairmanship seat .
The group which consists of Kabawa, Kporoka, Afakiriya, kpatankoto, Bisakin, Galilee, Texaco, Hausa street, Poly made the criticism in a meeting in Lokoja on Monday.
According to the Spokespersons of the group, Mr Adamu Ayatu,said it is the turn of Ward E to produce the next Lokoja Local Government council chairman.
He appealed the dominant political parties in the area, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) among others to respect the zoning arrangement existing in the local government.
Ayatu said party leaders in the local government and state should be wary of selfish-interest seeking elements working to truncate arrangement in the state arrived at by mutual consensus in 1999.
“We are worried about current moves by some self-interest seeking elements within the political space to distort the zoning arrangement which was by mutual consensus by the stakeholders of Lokoja of which I am privileged to be part of.
It is on record that other wards have benefitted immensely since inception of this government looking at political status quo
“We therefore wish to appeal to the conscience of the APC and PDP to ensure that the zoning arrangement and order is respected by all stakeholders,” Ayatu said.
He added that In the APC, 6 aspirants who have submitted their nomination forms hailed from Ward B, D, Oworo Ward and Ward E .
He stressed further that the zoning arrangement had worked well for Lokoja and urged the leadership of the parties at the state level to be sensitive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the state.
He said the group would use its voting strength to support aspirants from Ward E and urged Ward B C D and Lokoja || to reciprocate the support they had enjoyed from ward E in previous elections.
