Ocholi’s replacement sparks “war” in Kogi.

With word filtering out from the Presidential Villa in Abuja that President Muhammadu May in September formally appoint someone to replace James Ocholi, the Minister of State for Labour, who died in an automobile accident in February, The three Senatorial constituencies in in Kogi State have embarked on serious strategizing and lobbying for the slot.


Ocholi hailed from the Kogi East Senatorial Constituency. The other two constituencies-West and Central are challenging the right of the East to produce a replacement for the late minister who died in the accident along with his wife and son.
Leaders of the three Senatorial Districts have practically relocated to Abuja from where they are intensifying lobbying within power circles in the nation’s capital.

Sources within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) disclosed to this paper that candidates from the three Kogi Senatorial Districts are jostling intensely for the vacant position.

Nigerian Times checks with the Presidency revealed on Tuesday that at least six names, two from each zone, have been penciled from which Ocholi’s replacement may emerge. The candidates themselves are devising different strategies and tactics to land the job.

Investigations reveal that whilst some of them are launching attacks through party leaders, others are exploiting their links in the Presidency. Nigerian times gathered that Senator Alex Khadiri and Senator
Mohammed Dangana are the candidates from Kogi East, Hon Clarence Olorunfemi and Chief Gbenga Ashagun with Senator Mohammed Ohiare is mentioned in connection with Kogi Central.

Nigerian Times learnt that a few party loyalists in the state are of the opinion that an overriding consideration in choosing a replacement should be the need to reward the loyalty of members who have made sacrifices for the party. Their position may not score with President Buhari, who is said to averse to the idea of using appointments as reward for party members’ loyalty.

“The President believes that competence rather than party loyalty should be the basis of critical appointments and he has always insisted that he is concerned about those who can perform in office rather than the length of stay in the party,” a Presidency source said.

Presently, the Presidency is in a fix as to which of the three competing zones it would hand the position to. While Kogi East believes that the new Minister should fill the slot of the area, which produced the late Ocholi, others are of the view that the zone has held too many key positions reserved for Kogi state in recent years.

They point to the fact that the zone currently has the Deputy Governor, while it also produced Humphrey Abba and Gabriel Adiukwu as Ministers under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, while Central zone produced Mohammed Adokwe who served as Minister under former President Goodluck
Jonathan.

The Presidency’s worries have been compounded by the fact that with the use of Card Readers for elections, the gap in the voting capacity of each of the three senatorial districts stands at about 15,000.

“This indicates that the three Districts are almost evenly yoked in terms of voting strength and an indication that the three zones must be carefully carried along,” a party source said.