Nobody can stop my second term victory – Gov Bello

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello has said that his prospects of returning back as governor of the state for a fresh four –year- term is certain and nobody can stop him.

The governor said his optimism stems from the fact that he rebuilt the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state after the demise of late Prince Abubakar Audu.

Bello spoke with State House correspondents on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while reacting to speculations that he was being denied the party’s ticket to contest the gubernatorial poll.

Our correspondent recalls that Senator Dino Melaye, who has been at loggerheads with the governor, has also declared interest to contest the next gubernatorial election in the state.

Bello said: “I am the governor today and Insha Allah, l will return back as the governor for another four years after the November 16 election.

“As for the ticket, the analogy is that the tenant cannot send the landlord out of his house. So, APC in Kogi state was rebuilt by me after the good job done by our late leader, Prince Abubakar Audu.

“After his demise, l came, rebuilt it from the scratch to what it is today. That is evident in the last outing of the party where we had 25/25 in the state House of Assembly.

We also won seven out of the nine contested positions in the House of Representatives and two out of the three senators representing Kogi state in the National Assembly.

“So, anybody that is making such noise does not disturb me because in the market place, noise is allowed. You know, in Kogi politics is the loudest, so people must make noise and you can’t stop that.

But surely, l am very good with my party from the local government to the national level.

“They know that l am the leader of the party in my state. I have built it and it is very strong.

Anytime, any day, we will win elections in a landslide. That l am going to win in the primaries is given by the grace of God, by which ever means, direct or indirect.”

The governor further said: “In the November Governorship election, we are not just talking of winning; we are looking at the margins.

The margin is going to be such that whoever comes a far second will be discouraged to go to court”.

On his personal opinion regarding the declaration of June as Democracy Day, he said the President’s decision recognizing the day stands him out as a democrat.

“We can’t thank Mr. President enough for that wonderful master stroke of recognizing an icon, a human being that is synonymous with democracy, the late Chief MKO Abiola.

“I think something would have been wrong if he had not done this. For effectively doing it well, we can’t thank him enough.

It is so significant for us and the future generation to know that this man paid the supreme price for the democracy we are enjoying today.

We continue to pray for him to do more for the country. He has blazed the trail,” he added.