By For Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, the decision of his counterparts to back power shift to the South doesn’t hold water.
Bello, who is a presidential hopeful under the All Progressives Congress, has insisted he remains in the race for the party’s ticket despite the decision of stakeholders including governors to choose the 2023 presidential flagbearer from the South.
BlackBox Nigeria had reported that the APC governors, on Tuesday morning, presented the names of five Southern presidential hopefuls to President Muhammadu Buhari, as the ruling party holds its special convention.
Speaking after meeting the president on Tuesday, Bello noted that any attempt to exclude him from participating in the presidential primary is “recipe for bigger trouble”.
He told journalists, “I am a free citizen and a qualified member of the party. I am contesting. I bought the form, was cleared to participate in the primary, and there is no reason for me to be excluded from the ballot. If they do so, then that is a recipe for a bigger trouble for the party.
“However, I don’t think it is a decision of the party. It is a decision of a few elites who may decide to use their position to oppress the so-called minority. But I want to prove that in this country, I am not in the minority. I belong to the younger generation and Nigerians that are oppressed and are saying that their voices must be heard.”
The governor also said he wasn’t consulted by his counterparts before they agreed to zone the APC presidential ticket to the South, hence his decision to boycott the meeting involving Northern APC governors and the president.
“I am a unifier. I have demonstrated that severally in my state and in carrying out various tasks that I was given by the party. So, nobody consulted me over the decision that power be shifted to the south and I would say they were enrolled by a certain interest that wants to be the vice-president at all costs,” Bello said.
“And I continue to oppose the issue of turn-by-turn presidency because the insecurity that is facing us today does not respect that. Every part of this country is faced with insecurity and wants prosperity and we want unity in this country, which is what I stand for.”
