A swarm of bees on Saturday disrupted a rally organised by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State.
The APC had organised a road walk in Ihima, Okene to campaign for all candidates of the party from the area. Ihima is also the hometown of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kogi Central Senatorial candidate, Natasha Hadiza Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In 2019, Akpoti was a Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the State whe she ran alongside Governor Yahaya Bello.
“Bees have disrupted our road walk in Okene, Kogi State,” a party member told SaharaReporters.
Governor Bello had openly boasted that he would support all the APC candidates from the State by whatever means, while threatening the opposition that they would be “dealt with.”
The Governor followed up the threat by moving to strangle the opposition political parties, shutting down the Central Senatorial zone office of PDP in the State, a move aimed at stopping Natasha Akpoti’s Senatorial campaign.
In May 2022, Akpoti won the PDP primary election for the 2023 Kogi Central Senatorial District to go against the ruling APC’s Abubakar Ohere, among others.
“As a way to clamp down on the opposition, Yahaya Bello shut down PDP’s central office in Kogi to stop Natasha Akpoti’s campaign for Senate. Natasha is from Okene and that is her strong base,” a source privy to the matter told SaharaReporters.
Another source confirmed the clampdown, recounting that Bello had publicly warned the opposition that he would give them hell ahead of the elections.
Meanwhile, Bello had in a video published recently vowed that he would ensure his party wins all the elections in the state by whatever means.
In a notification letter personally signed by the Chairman, Okene Local Government Council, Hon. Abdulrazak M. Yusuf, asking the PDP to vacate the office, he cited security as the reason for shutting it down.