AHEAD of the November 21 governorship election in Kogi State, a former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu has promised to “liberate the state from degenerating into a failed state if re-elected in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.”

The former governor, who is planning to run for the election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), maintained that he was on a mission to rescue Kogi and bring it back to the the high level it was known for.

In his assessment of the current condition of Kogi under the leadership of Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Audu said the state has become the most underdeveloped and backward state in the country.

According to him, “Kogi is traumatised and therefore required urgent teamwork to liberate it.”

He said the unpleasant situation in the state informed his resolve to yield to calls on him from concerned people of the state who are disappointed with current development, to run for the race.

His words: “The pressures on me to re-contest the governorship poll are because of what I did when I was in office some 13 years ago.

“When I was in office as governor, Kogi was rated the fastest growing state in the whole federation and I was the best performing governor in Nigeria. My detractors will have nothing to fear because I am not coming for vengeance.

“All my time will be preoccupied with infrastructural development and human development. So I won’t think of vendetta. That is not my mission.”

Audu said his opponents are afraid of his return to power because what they did to me is now haunting them stressing, “as far as I am concerned I have more important things to do than thinking about who offended me and who did not offend me. That is not my mission.

“Kogi State has become the most underdeveloped state in Nigeria, the most backward state in Nigeria. So you can see why people are clamouring for my return so that we will regain the lost glory and by the special grace of God I will do that.”