Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Senator-Elect of Kogi State Central, has accused the state governor Yahaya Bello of attempting to eliminate her during the senatorial election in March 2023.
WikkiTimes earlier reported that the Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Tuesday, affirmed the election victory of Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial election.
The Tribunal Chairman, Justice K. A. Orjiako, delivered the unanimous judgment of the three-person panel, revealing that the results of Abubakar Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were inflated in nine polling units in the Ajaokuta Local Government Area.
The senator-elect made the allegations on Tuesday during “Politics Today” a Channels TV program alleged that a returning officer of a certain polling unit led the group of some men to harm her adding that, she heard gunshots and some persons shooting at her vehicles.
“It was the immediate past; they were adorned in APC shirts and one of them was Amoka; he was actually the returning officer for Okehi local government. He led the group of ten men to shoot at me, I have the video captured in that.” She added
Appeal Court Affirms Natasha Winner of Kogi Central Senatorial Seat
“I heard guns; I had his henchmen shoot at my vehicle; I have video evidence of that,” she said.
She added that the governor’s recent statement on her victory as the duly elected candidate for Kogi Central is concerning adding that, the beauty of democracy is not harming individuals and manipulating the electoral process
“He said this is the beauty of politics; this is not the beauty of politics. You don’t endanger people, you don’t set out to kill people, you don’t destroy properties, and you don’t frustrate the electoral process just because you want your candidate to win and call it ‘the beauty of democracy’,” she added
“Apart from that, the governor actually thwarts roads. The governor, a day before the election, cut five – he dug gullies, cutting five roads. That was just to prevent the election from taking place, probably endangering my life”
“It was a day to the election but thank God we had the payloaders and I went all night, we had to cover the gullies so that the election could take place.” She said
Akpoti-Uduaghan added that, despite the threat and challenges facing her, she had to demonstrate the image of strength in order not to discourage other aspiring women from engaging in political leadership She added that, she had to keep some information away from the media
“A lot went on that we couldn’t even put before the media because I didn’t want to seem as if I was every day, crying for help. I needed to show strength; I didn’t want to discourage other women like me from entering politics and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s too violent, it’s too volatile’,” she maintained.
“I had to show strength; that was why I did not tell every part of this story; it was so much more than the world knows.”
