I'M STILL IN KOGI GUBER RACE — EX AGF

Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, has stated that he is still very much in the Kogi State gubernatorial race. Ojo, an aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the clarification was in reaction to rumours that he had withdrawn due to his recent election as the first Nigerian to represent Africa on the Trustees' Board of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the United Kingdom.

According to him, those peddling the rumour, especially his opponents, wanted to use his recent election to get acceptance from the people.

In a statement in Abuja by the Bayo Ojo Governorship Campaign Organisation, the former minister urged the people of Kogi State to ignore the propaganda.

'The attention of Bayo Ojo Campaign Organization has been drawn to cheap but wicked propaganda being spread by desperate political jobbers that Chief Bayo Ojo SAN, who by the grace of God has shot into the forefront in the governorship race in Kogi State, has withdrawn from due to his recent election as the African Trustee at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the United Kingdom.

We want to say categorically that he is still in the race by God's special grace and we are calling on the unsuspecting public to disregard this unfounded rumour and cheap propaganda.

'Our findings have shown that some desperate aspirants who are running scared of the geometric rise in the political fortune of Ojo, are using some political jobbers to spread the fallacious rumour among the good people of Kogi State, who obviously cannot wait to have him as their number one servant either in 2011 or 2012 and benefit from his rich record of service delivery that has made him a global indigene.

'Though there are offers of international jobs to last him a lifetime of comfort, he has resolved to serve his people and face the daunting but conquerable challenges in making life more comfortable for Kogites.

'His current job poses no constitutional challenges whatsoever to his aspiration to serve his people but places him at a vantage position to use it as a springboard to attract direct foreign investments to the state as governor.

'Information at our disposal also revealed that those behind this rumour are going to be more desperate in the days ahead and had planned to use the media including Internet to spread cheap lies about him but we are assuring them that we are ready for them.

'We urge the good people of Kogi State to be wary of these political charlatans and intellectual vegetables who would be spreading unfounded rumours as the campaign progresses and we are also challenging them to face us on our issue-based campaign instead of engaging in mudslinging and rumour mongering.

We also ask our supporters to keep faith as we would not retreat or surrender.'