- ‘I will overwhelmingly win APC presidential ticket if the process is credible’
Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, said he will win the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary if the process is credible.
He told journalists on Tuesday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja that he was confident of his chances during the primary election.
He was absent from the APC governors’ meeting with the president where they reiterated their support for zoning the party’s presidential ticket to the south.
Bello chose to excuse himself from meeting with Mr President because he believes that he does not agree with our position,” the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said at a press briefing on Monday.
With the exception of Bello who is a presidential aspirant in the race, 13 other governors from the northern region were in support of this resolution.
Sending a strong message to the party leadership, the Kogi governor after his meeting with the president said there will be trouble if his name is omitted from the ballot as delegates arrive to cast their votes.
“No reason for me to be excluded from the ballot. If they do so then that is a recipe for bigger trouble for the party. However, I don’t think it’s the decision of the party. It is a decision of a few elites who may decide to use their whatever position to suppress the so-called minority. But I want to prove that in this country, I am not in the minority. We have the majority. I belong to the younger generation.
“I belong to the generation of Nigerians that are oppressed and they are saying the most have their voice. And I strongly believe that getting into that arena today, I will win overwhelmingly if the process and the normal regulations are followed,” he said
The governor added that he would be willing to step down if Mr Buhari had asked him to but “Mr President did not ask anyone to step down.”
Bello’s chance of clinching the party’s apex ticket has further shrunk as governors elected on the platform of the party as well as its National Working Committee (NWC) recommended only five aspirants for today’s presidential primary.
The five aspirants are a former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu; a former minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; the governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi; the governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
With his resolution to forge ahead against the above resolution, the Kogi governor may have a long day convincing a substantial number of the 2322 delegates expected to cast their ballot between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Premium Times
