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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
The All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in Kogi State at the weekend urged President Muhammadu Buhari to save the state by withdrawing support for the second term ambition of Governor Yahaya Bello.
The stakeholders, under the auspices of Kogi Emancipation Movement (KEM), urged the President not to release โany form of budget supportโ to Yahaya โbetween now and November when the governorship election will take place.โ
They warned that the party would lose the election if it fielded Bello, because โthe governor had nothing on which to anchor his second term quest.โ
The group in a statement signed by its Convener, Apostle Eniola Williams, said it was โstrange that Buhari and other leaders of the party at both national and state level have continued to show public support for, and even endorsement of Governor Yahaya Bello.โ
According to it, Belloโs โonly visible achievement is the obsolete street lights; even the revenue house that was commissioned by His Eminence, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, the contractor is yet to be paid.โ
The group claimed that โContrary to a claim that Kogi State civil servants were being owed โonly a few monthsโ salaries, the truth is that Governor Yahaya Bello does not pay workers their salaries by imposing a three-year lingering screening without end. And when he deigns to do that, he pays them in fractions and trickles. Consequently, he is owing 75 percent of state and local government genuine workers more than 40 months salaries.โ
According to Williams, many Kogi civil servants โhave died chasing their hard earned pay, while those who survived up to this moment are stuck between poor or little pay, or late and badly fractionalized pay.
โWe therefore warn that APC will be thoroughly defeated if it fields Governor Yahaya Bello for the November 16, 2019 governorship poll in the state.
โHe has done or said nothing to earn his partyโs offer of right of first refusal.
โWe feel strongly that the governor will not win the poll if he is fielded, but even if he could, he still should not run because of his dismal performance in his first term.โ
The group cautioned President Buhari and the party hierarchy not to be deceived by Governor Belloโs assurances that he had the โtacticsโ to win, โsuch as heโฆdeployed during the last presidential and legislative polls.โ
It emphasized that โany attempt to field the incumbent governor will result in humiliating defeat for the APC as was the case in Adamawa and Bauchi States earlier in the year. โ
The group urged the President, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, APC Chairman Adams Oshiomole, National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, โstalwarts from the state like Hajiya Salamatu Baiwa, Barrister Babatunde Irukera, Folasade Josephโ โฆ to ensure that โa governor so unpopularโฆis not allowed to belittle the flag of the party by becoming its standard-bearer. โ
The statement added: โThe millions of people from Kogi are hopeless and helpless and their fate is in the hands of these people and what they do to save the state and repair their own reputation. History and judgment await all in the future for actions or inactions.โ
