Bello’s endorsement: Group condemns Kogi monarchs

A group, Save Kogi Movement, has condemned the Kogi traditional rulers in the state for endorsing Yahaya Bello for a second term in their trip to Aso Rock, saying it does not represent the wish of the people.

Kogi State traditional rulers on Wednesday, June 19, presented Governor Yahaya Bello as their favourite candidate to President Muhammadu Buhari for his support towards his second term election.

The group cautioned the monarchs to be fathers to all, weigh their actions, and conduct themselves respectfully, so as to speak the minds of their people always. The group’s stance was contained in a statement by its coordinator, Commodore Folusho Daniels. Daniels described the visit to President Buhari by selected traditional rulers in the state as “a function of coercion that is not the minds of the people.”

He described the visit of the monarchs as “one that was forcefully done by the governor to get relevance having failed in providing good governance.” He expressed disgust that, “the traditional rulers who are aware of the sufferings of their citizens, who have had to live a life of penury, would allow themselves to be used.”

The group urged President Buhari to see the visit of the monarchs, “as another gimmick geared towards painting a bad situation currently experienced in the state.” Commodore Daniels also drew attention of Buhari to several speeches and interviews granted by Dr Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, the Ohinoyi of Ebira land, and leader of the delegation to Aso Rock, to the failure of the Bello administration in the state in the past. He urged the president to compare the monarch’s past remarks to the content of his speech yesterday.

Meanwhile, a civil society and good governance advocacy group sympathetic to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Confluence Rescue Mission (COREM), has stated that Governor Yahaya Bello is not popular among the electorates in Kogi State. The group also appealed to the national leadership of the APC to take a critical look at the outcome of the screening of governorship candidates by the Kogi East Elders Committee (KEEC), saying it is the voice of the people and a strong indication of their leaning. The KEEC had pruned down the candidates of the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, to five aspirants respectively, leaving out Governor Bello.