- Angry state workers threaten to work against his victory at the poll
- APC chieftains, state exco members divided
- Only God can stop me – Gov Bello
By ADELEKE ADESANYA
There is no doubt that the ruling All Progressives Congress in Kogi State is currently in a dilemma over the choice of its standard bearer ahead of the fast-approaching governorship election in the state.
As it is, the party leaders are currently hovering between the options of either anointing the incumbent Governor Yahaya Bello or source for a better candidate.
Incumbent Governor Bello is currently facing stiff opposition, especially from forces in the state who believe that fielding him as the party’s governorship candidate will only make the forthcoming governorship election in the state a walk-over for the opposition.
Party faithful in the state and at the national level have continued to express serious concern over Governor Bello’s candidacy, especially with the hindsight of his first tenure in office, which is now at its twilight. For them, Bello’s first term has been characterised by various missteps and wrong decisions, which are now haunting the ruling party in the state.
ANGRY STATE WORKERS THREATEN TO WORK AGAINST BELLO OVER UNPAID SALARIES
The state’s workers are still expecting the governor to release some of the several months’ salaries they are being owed by the state government. In one of the recent meetings with the Governor Bello, the workers in the state vowed to work against his return for a second term in office.
At the meeting held at the Kogi Government House, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Onuh Edoka, said Bello had done nothing to improve the state workers’ lives.
The Labour leader said that the huge salary arrears the state is owing them had negatively been affecting most of the workers and their family members.
Edoka said the governor had done nothing to ameliorate the sufferings of the workers in the state.
He said, “Let me put the records straight. The former governor, Captain Idris Ichalla Wada, spent 48 months in office and he paid 45 months salaries, leaving the allocation of December 2015 and January 2016 for your administration to access.
“Nothing is farther from the truth than this. The truth is that your administration is hugely indebted to Kogi workers and you should find a means to defray it, rather than lying to the public.”
APC CHIEFTAINS’ MOVES AGAINST GOV BELLO
Apart from workers in the state, several party stalwarts in the state have warned the APC against endorsing Governor Bello for a second term.
According to them, the governor’s non-performance may cost the party the chance of retaining the state.
Already, the All Progressives Congress Aspirants’ Forum, Kogi State Chapter, has rejected Gov. Yahaya Bello for a second term in office, citing alleged bad leadership and non-performance.
The forum, which spoke through its Chairman, Mr. Ben Adaji, appealed to the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, and the ruling party’s National Working Committee not to make the mistake of giving the 2019 governorship ticket to Governor Bello.
He added that the party would be taking a risk with Governor Bello as its candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, saying the party might lose the state to the opposition.
Adaji said Bello had remained adamant in spite of directives by President Muhammadu Buhari to all APC governors to reconcile and accommodate the party’s other aspirants after the last primaries.
He said the forum had, therefore, resolved to mobilise and support one of its members to contest the forthcoming primaries and the governorship election slated for November.
Similarly, one of the party chieftains, Prince Mona Mustapha Audu, warned that the party stood the risk of losing the state in the coming election if it fielded the incumbent governor, Bello, in the polls.
Mona, who is the son of late Prince Abubakar Audu, a former governor of the state who died on the verge of being declared winner of the 2015 governorship election, said if the APC fielded Governor Bello, “either accidentally, or by miracle or by whatever means, the APC would lose Kogi State.
“Bello is an epitome of bad leadership, and his governorship is at variance with what APC stands for. Under the present leadership, workers have been owed salaries for several months; poor health delivery, infrastructural decay, and suicide among our people, the highest ever recorded in the history of the state, have become the order of the day in the state.”
Mona, who is the sixth child of the former governor of Kogi State, and his fifth male child, however, promised to reverse the trend and deliver the state to the APC if given the mandate to govern the state.
KOGI APC EXCO DIVIDED OVER GOV BELLO’S SECOND TERM BID
Governor Bello’s second term ambition has divided the members of the APC State Executive Committee. There are clear indications that the fight over who gets the APC governorship ticket for the forthcoming governorship election has thrown the party in the state into a crisis.
Already, Governor Bello’s supporters are pitched against those opposed to his candidature in the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi State.
A faction that is opposed to Governor Bello is led by the state Secretary of the APC, Salam Tom Adejoh, who while making his stand on Bello’s candidacy known, said the governor’s poor performance should not be rewarded with a second term.
The APC state secretary stressed that the executive committee members were not in any position to endorse any aspirant, stressing that the party’s governorship ticket was open to every qualified party member.
“We did not endorse anyone and we are not planning to. The party’s ticket is open to everyone in the party,” Adejoh said.
Speaking on a meeting the APC exco members recently had with the governor, Adejoh said, “Our discussion ended at the need for peace so that the party can move forward. He (governor) said he needed a sincere peace and we agreed on terms. There was nothing like endorsement. The terms we agreed on was that our allowances and other packages that we are entitled to would be given to us and we all agreed on these terms.
“The governor requested for the case in court to be withdrawn. We told him there are some processes to be followed. The issue of withdrawing the case is subject to another negotiation.”
On Governor Bello’s suitability for re-election, Adejoh said, “The party has its own criteria on what they want from a candidate. If someone has performed well or is an achiever, it will speak for itself. Yahaya has been far away from us; since then he has not been properly directed.”
On the reported endorsement of the governor by traditional rulers in Kogi State at the Presidential Villa in Abuja last week, the state APC secretary said the governorship election was not a traditional rulers’ affair.
According to him, the royal fathers are only entitled to vote at the election and are not in a position to decide who will be the APC candidate, because they are not delegates.
Other party chieftains on Adejoh’s camp are the State Organising Secretary, Alh. Isah Abubakar; Zonal Youth Leader, Noah Akwu; and APC Bassa LGA Chairman, Mallam Isiaka Ibrahim, among others.
A factional Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, told our correspondent that the APC in Kogi must be careful and take steps to guard against experiencing what the party suffered in Zamfara State in the last general elections.
ONLY GOD CAN STOP MY RE-ELECTION – GOV BELLO
Meanwhile, the incumbent governor of the state, Bello, has vowed to retain the party’s ticket, stressing that the ticket would go to no other person than him.
He added that only God could stop him from returning as the governor of the state for a second term.
Governor Bello said, “I am the governor today and Insha Allah, l will return as the governor for another four years, after the November 16 election.
“As for the ticket, the analogy is that the tenant cannot send the landlord out of his house. So, APC in Kogi State was rebuilt by me, after the good job done by our late leader, His Excellency, Prince Abubakar Audu.
“After his demise, l came, and rebuilt it from the scratch to what it is today. That is evident in the last outing of the party, where we had 25/25 in the State House of Assembly. We also won 7 out of the 9 contested positions in the House of Representatives and two out of the three Senators representing Kogi State in the Senate.
“So, anybody that is making such a noise does not disturb me, because, in the market place, noise is allowed. You know, in Kogi politics noise is the loudest. So, people must make a noise and you can’t stop that. But surely, l am very good with my party from the local government to the national level. They know that l am the leader of the party in my state. I have built it and it is very strong. Anytime, any day, we will win elections in a landslide. That l am going to win in the primaries is given by the grace of God, by whichever means, direct or indirect.”
