Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, has warned the All Progressives Congress, (APC) removing his name on the ballot for today’s presidential primary, noting that doing so could be invitation to trouble.
The governor who did not make the list of five aspirants recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari by the governors of the party and the NWC, said there is a conspiracy against him, accusing the APC northern governors and some elite of gang-up.
Bello who is one of the 23 presidential aspirants on the ruling party’s platform, described himself as a leading aspirant that would win overwhelmingly if the process is transparent and credible.
He said said the only thing that could make him not contest the presidential primary is only if President Muhammadu Buhari tells him to step down.
Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with the President, Bello said that the APC will retain power at the center if only it plays by the rules.
“Getting into the arena today, I will win overwhelmingly if the process is credible,” he said.
He said there was no need for him to be excluded in the primary, claiming that he represents the youths and the downtrodden.
Bello said that the APC governors of northern extraction did not consult him when they took the resolution that power should shift to the south and that the resolution was not bidding on him.
He reiterated his opposition to the rotational presidency, saying that it doesn’t give room for the emergence of a competent person to pilot the affairs of the country.
