••• SAYS MY EXCLUSION FROM RACE WILL CREATE TROUBLE
The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has said that his fellow northern governors did not consult him on the shift of the Presidency to the South
Yahaya Bello said that those insisting that power should shift to the South are enrolled by an interest that is desperate to be Vice President.
He said that he as a unifier he does not believe in power rotation between North and South because the prevailing insecurity in the land has no consideration for that.
He said that the major preoccupation should not be where the President should come from but who should be the President.
“I am a unifier, I have demonstrated that severally in my state and in carrying out various tasks that I was given by the party. So, nobody consulted me over the decision that power be shifted to the south and I would say they were enrolled by a certain interest that wants to be the Vice President at all costs.
“And I continue to oppose the issue of turn by turn presidency because the insecurity that is facing us today does not respect that. Every part of this country is faced with insecurity and wants prosperity and we want unity in this country, which is what I stand for. Who should be able to solve that problem is what should occupy our minds now, not rotational presidency,” he said.
The Kogi Governor who said that he is still in the race for the APC Presidential ticket and indeed the Candidate to beat, warned that any attempt to exclude him from the race will be an invitation to trouble.
Bello spoke to Villa correspondents shortly after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday.
He vowed to resist any move to exclude him from participating in the contest for the APC Presidential ticket.
The Kogi Governor explained he was at the Villa to brief the President of his opposition to the resolution of the Northern APC Governors Forum that power should shift to the South.
He stressed that only the President can ask him to step down from the race which has not taken place.
“I am a free citizen and a qualified member of the party. I am contesting. I bought the form, was cleared to participate in the primary election and there is no reason for me to be excluded from the ballot. If they do so, then that is a recipe for a bigger trouble for the party.
“However, I don’t think it is a decision of the party. It is a decision of few elites who may decide to use their position to oppress the so called minority but I want to prove that in this country, I am not in the minority. I belong to the younger generation and Nigerians that are oppressed and are saying that their voice must be heard.
“I believe strongly that getting into that arena today, I will win overwhelmingly if the process and normal regulations are followed, I will merge victorious,” he added.