Kogi East Senate: Echocho, the man to beat

Jibrin Isah Echocho, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), now a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has not given up on his political ambition. Not governorship, but Senate this time around. He seeks to represent Kogi East in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, YUSUF MOHAMMED reports.

Isah was ahead of his opponents in the February 23 Senatorial election in Kogi East, when the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), cancelled the election. According to INEC, the elections for Kogi East Senatorial District and Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency were declared inconclusive due to widespread violence.

Rotimi Ajayi, INEC Returning Officer for the senatorial election, who announced at the collation centre in Idah, said the elections did not hold in 129 polling units across the district.

Mr Ajayi said that some polling unit elections were cancelled as he announced that Isah of the APC scored 113,772 votes; incumbent Sen. Attai Ai’doko of PDP scored 69,131 while Victor Alewo Adoji scored ADC, 30,696 votes.

Given his antecedents, many would feel that he has made a wise decision by joining the senatorial race as he is very popular in Igala land.

Isah before joining politics was a director of the defunct Afribank. He is very famous in Kogi due to his philanthropic ways. Echocho as he is popularly called is described by many people as generous to a fault.

Now that he wants to focus on representing the good people of Kogi East at the Senate, will he be third time lucky?

Let us delve into his political history. On January 9, 2011, Echocho emerged as the flag bearer of the PDP for the governorship election that year.

However, two weeks to the election, a Federal High Court in Abuja elongated the tenure of five governors, including that of Ibrahim Idris.

There was to be no hand over on May 29 as a result of the judgment. Unfortunately for Echocho, the highly anticipated election did not hold. It was heartbreaking for him and his teeming supporters after series of elaborate rallies.

President Goodluck Jonathan even attended the grand finale where he handed him the party’s flag and raised his hand.

Later that year, there was another primary election which produced Idris Wada instead of Echocho. Governor Ibrahim Idris refused to support Echocho and threw his weight behind his in-law, Captain Idris Wada. Wada came out of the blue and became the party’s candidate without a single poster.

The question on the lips of many was: what went wrong? There were several allegations in the air. It was alleged that Echocho’s sin was that he was perceived to be too close to late Prince Abubakar Audu the number one political enemy of Idris. He was also accused of being overconfident and no longer needed the support of Idris due to his fame. Months before the main election, it was also alleged by his detractors that he had already drawn up a list of his commissioners which angered Idris.

In 2015, while most of Isah’s men decamped from the PDP to the APC, he remained in the PDP hoping to defeat former governor, Wada at the party’s primaries. Party stakeholders saw that Idris was no match for the governorship candidate of the APC, Audu. This time around they wanted to replace Wada with Echocho.

The plans of Goodluck Jonathan, former National Chairman of the PDP, Ahmadu Ali and Ibrahim Idris failed as Wada who was in control of the party structure had his way. He ignored the voice of reason and imposed himself on the party. The rest is history. He lost the governorship election to Audu.

The former banker was one of those backing Faleke to be governor instead of Yahaya Bello when Audu, the leading candidate in the governorship election died.

After the storm, Bello emerged as governor of the state. One thing Isah learnt is that the governors control the party’s structure in their respective states. He was well aware that Governor Bello was powerful enough to support him to become the APC Senatorial candidate of Kogi East. This explains why he decided to align with him.

However, some people from Kogi East are not happy with his open support for the Bello administration. Bello is believed to be unpopular in the Igala part of state.

A few people have issued statements to express their displeasure.

But Idrisu Bello, a political analyst from Kogi East is of a different view, “Who would rival Echocho? Is it Senator Attai Aidoko of the PDP?” he asked.

“Before now, Echocho hardly emerged as candidate of a major party. He usually fails at the primaries. All he needs to win is to be candidate. Now that he has been given the ticket of the APC, he will be unstoppable.”

Apart from Victor Adoji and Attai Ai’doko who are Echocho’s rivals in this race, another prominent opponent is Alhaji Abdul Abubakar of the Social Democratic Party, SDP. He is from Ankpa Local Government Area of the state.

He was the APC senatorial candidate of Kogi East in 2015 and benefited from the goodwill of Muhammadu Buhari in the state. While they were voting Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC, they also voted for Abubakar who was the APC senatorial candidate of Kogi East.

Unfortunately for Abubakar, on December 2, 2015, the election that produced him as Senator from Kogi East was nullified. Abubakar was also disqualified from contesting the by-election as he was not properly nominated as candidate of the APC. It was established by the court that he did not emerge through primaries. He bought his ticket from the late Audu.

Many political pundits are of the view that even with Abubakar’s financial war-chest and the backing of people from his local government area, like the rest of the candidates, he cannot defeat Echocho. He is the man to beat.