Governor Yahaya Bello’s hope of
securing the ticket of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for the
November Kogi State governorship election is under threat as a result of
criticism by stakeholders that he has performed below average in office.
The governor, according to
information is set to dump the party for Accord Party due
to the uncertainty that beclouds his ambition for second term.
It was reliably gathered that
Bello, who is presently facing a difficult task to secure the party’s
governorship ticket, has been petitioned by individuals, groups and even
members of his party before the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC, all
complaining that his administration has performed poorly.
An indication that the governor
is on his way out is the removal of APC flags hoisted in the premises of
Government House, including the one hoisted at the main entrance gate to Lugard
House, the seat of the state government.
The Accord Party secretariat has
reportedly been renovated by the governor. Although the Accord Party was his
alternative party in 2015 when he lost the APC governorship primary to late
Prince Abubakar Audu, he was eventually nominated to take the place of Audu in
the supplementary election.
According to sources, Bello is
said to have disclosed to some of his closest allies in his cabinet that some
cabal in Aso Rock advised him to move to another party since forces were
against him for the ticket.
According to him, he has been
assured of their support if he contests the governorship election in another
party.
The sources also disclosed that
the governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom, a good friend of Bello, also
advised him to dump the APC for another party so that he could contest in the
November 2 governorship election.
It was also gathered that the
National Secretariat of the party received over 10 petitions submitted by
individuals, various groups and also within the party demanding that Bello
should not be given ticket for second term.
One of the groups, which made its
statement available, a concerned group under the name Kogi Rescue
Mission (KRM) is of the opinion that Bello’s “abysmal style of leadership has
further subjected the state to political and economic hemorrhage.”
The group, which embarked on a
peaceful protest led by its President, Hon. Ali Dan, to the National
Headquarters of the APC with numerous placards that carried various save our
soul (SOS) messages, the group described the Yahaya Bello-led administration as
a threat to people’s welfare and the economic prosperity of Kogi State.
In their protest letter to the
national leadership of the party, the group highlighted various anti-people
activities of the state government ranging from suicidal deaths among the state
civil servants, whose salaries have not been paid for many months,
institutional dearth in the land, misuse of state resources, hunger and
perceived molestation of people, who are believed not to be supporters of the
present administration in the state.
The group said: “Salaries of
civil servants for November and 60 per cent of December, 2017 are yet to be
paid; this is despite receiving N20 billion as bailout funds, over N21 billion
from the Paris Club refund and money from the monthly federal allocations as
well as the internally generated revenue.
“As a result of non-payment of
salaries, about three civil servants took their own lives because of their
inability to meet up with their family needs, while over a hundred have died
due to lack of funds to continue medical treatment.”
Dan Ali who spoke on behalf of
the protesters also said: “Businesses have folded up, people are leaving for
another state to seek refuge and workers have become paupers, feeding from hand
to mouth. You will believe me that on no account will the people support and
vote for a governor that operates draconian policy of this nature.”
Ali who decried the dearth of
public institutions in the state also told APC national leadership that the
state workers have been turned to IDPs without recourse to dignity of labour as
enshrined in the Labour Acts.
He said: “Workers in Kogi State
are now living like IDPs; Kogi State has become hunger/poverty capital of the
country as nothing seems to be working due to the sorry state of salaries.
“In Kogi State today, there are
no public primary schools for the past two years as they only exist in
structures without teachers to teach the pupils due to non-payment of salaries;
no primary health centres for the past two years; pensioners have not been paid
for the past 12 months; there’s no judiciary for the past eight months due to
non-payment of their salaries; and no development anywhere in the state.”
Efforts to get the reaction of
Bello were abortive wednesday as calls to the phones of his Chief Press
Secretary, Mr. Muhammed Onogwu, were not answered.
Senior officials of the party at
the National Secretariat in Abuja that preferred anonymity, however, said while
it was normal for discontent to exist in the polity, it was doubtful if Bello
would contemplate jumping ship.
“What the national leadership is
determined to do is to level the playing field for all aspirants to play,” one
of them said adding, “the question of anyone being favoured by Abuja
is totally misconceived.”
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