Kogi APC crisis: Yahaya Bello cries to National Secretariat
The embattled Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Thursday ran to the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for sucour following the brewing crisis rocking the Kogi State chapter of the party threatening to consume him. Bello who drove himself to the party Secretariat at about 12:15pm in a Maroon Posh Jeep, in company of his security details went straight to the office of the National Deputy Chairman, North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu where he held a close-door meeting for about an hour and later moved to the National Chairman’s office. The governor who snubbed the press that approached him for the outcome of his two-hour visit to the secretariat, refused to comment only responded ‘no press’ as he headed for his waiting car and drove off. However, unconfirmed sources said the party reprimanded the governor for some of his actions since he was sworn-in as governor.
The sources said Bello was reprimanded by the national leadership of the party for side-lining the executives of the party in his appointments, as well as not consulting major stakeholders in the party in designing his executive bills and programme. It was learnt that the governor, who became the party’s governorship flag bearer by divine providence after the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, had not made any sacrifice to the growth of the party but started nursing animosity against the state executives when he lost the primary elections to Prince Audu. He was even accused of defecting from APC to Social Democratic Party, (SDP).
It was gathered that when fate smiled on him as governor, he made frantic efforts to remove the state chairman and other state executives who worked against his emergence. It was also alleged that Bello equally divided the state legislature and coerced nine lawmakers out of 25 to impeach the speaker of the State Assembly just as he allegedly made five lawmakers to endorse his signing of the 2016 Appropriation Bill out of 25 lawmakers. It would be recalled that the House of Representatives had earlier ordered the police to seal the premises of the state house of assembly, and ordered the governor to submit his bills including the 2016 Appropriation bill to the National Assembly for approval.
