Kogi ministerial slot: Race to fill late James Ocholi void thickens
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The battle for who replaces the late Minister of State for Labour, James Ocholi, on the Federal Executive Council intensified on Tuesday with the two senatorial districts, Kogi East and West, battling for the slot.
Sources close to the All Progressives Congress said on Tuesday that Governor Yahaya Bello appears undecided on who to back for the ministerial slot as sources said he was torn between using the position to end the political feud in the state chapter of the party and selecting one of his own core loyalists for the job.
Sources said Governor Bello is on the one hand looking to pacify the camp of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, by pushing for the deputy governorship candidate to the late
Prince Abubakar Audu, Hon. James Faleke, who is in court over the Kogi State governorship election issue, and selecting his his Chief of Staff.
The different postulations are said to be on the cards even as stakeholders from Kogi East Senatorial District, where Ocholi hails from, are insisting on one of their own retaining the slot.
While the stakeholders in Kogi East are seeking the position of Minister as compensation for the loss of the governorship slot, those from Kogi West are insisting that the area had been marginalized all along.
For instance, the people of Kogi West have complained that apart from dominating the governorship slot in the state, Kogi East has also been producing Ministers for sometime now.
Kogi East had produced two ministers in the person of Hon. Gabriel Adukwu and Humprey Abbah during the late
President Umaru Yar’ Adua era, while his successor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, also picked a Minister from Kogi East in the person of Mohammed Adoke.
President Muhammadu Buhari also went ahead to pick a minister from Kogi East in the person of the late Ocholi.
It was gathered that Governor Bello is also considering Alex Kadiri.
Ocholi, his wife and son died in a fatal motor accident on the Kaduna-Abuja Road earlier in the year.