Kogi East APC Leadership Tackles Governor Bello Over Suspension

Leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from Kogi East Senatorial District have tackled the state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for instigating the suspension of some elected officials for anti-party activities.

The leaders stated that if anyone should be suspended, it should have been the governor himself.

Speaking on behalf of the Kogi East APC Leaders Forum on Saturday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, the leader of the delegation, Citizen Goodman, stressed that Bello was never their choice for the governorship of Kogi State but a product of imposition.

Goodman said but for the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, Bello would not have been governor, a position they said he now uses to suppress others.

The leaders also declared that Bello’s plot to install another Ebira man as his successor was “mission impossible”, noting that were it not for the death of the 2015 APC Governorship Candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, the Igalas would have continued to rule the state in perpetuity.

“The Igala people being one of the top ten largest demographic groups in Nigeria are forced to break our silence finally to stop the unbecoming and larger-than life attitude of some privileged political minors that providence paved way for them but have refused to appreciate God in totality.

“After the Kogi State APC Primary Election in 2015 that returned late Prince
Abubakar Audu, his would-be victory inheritor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello left the Party to join forces with PDP to fight against the successes of both Prince Audu and APC, but behold the Prince of the Confluence triumphed in a resounding victory, but death took him away.

“Same Alhaji Yahaya Bello that left and joined forces with PDP to stop the victory of the party was brought and imposed as Governor against the wishes of the people. This is nothing but anti-party of the highest order.

“Here we are, Governor Yahaya Bello selected Hon. Simon Achuba, the former majority leader of the State House of Assembly under Governor Ibrahim Idris, a full-fledged PDP member as his Deputy Governor, until the cookies crumbled and they remain at loggerhead till this moment. This is evidence number two of his anti-party activities.

“He followed the sequence by appointing PDP members as Commissioners, Special Advisers and Caretaker Chairmen of LGAs.

"Up till this moment, about 80% of his Cabinet members are PDP extraction, this is evidence number three.

“Now the crux of the matter. The declaration of the Honorable Members of the State Assembly as terrorists to persecute them and the suspension of Chairmen and a party stalwart and a leading Governorship aspirant for that matter, was hastily done without recourse to due process, better still party constitution.

"It is like the case of giving the dog a bad name just to cut off the head.

“The whole exercise was borne out of envy, jealousy and hatred for the rising political profile of Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka the kid on the block.

“Governor Yahaya Bello has never hidden his intention to impose his protégé from his tribe as successor come November 11 Kogi State Governorship Election, which is a mission impossible.

"Because politics is a game of numbers and the majority will always carry the day while the minority will always have their say.

“The declaration of Hon. Suleiman Atajachi Musa representing the good people of Idah, Hon. Daniel Rayin of Bassa Local Government Area and Mukhtar Ibrahim and the Hon. representing Ibaji Constituency is the greatest injustice and hatred.

"We, the Igala people are seriously injured and stigmatized by this pronouncement."