I’ve supported many people in the APC, I’m closer to APC than any other party but I don’t support failure, incompetence and wickedness. However, I’m not a card carrying member of APC.
We shouldn’t support the sham that happened in Kogi state in the name of election. The election that took place in Kogi was marred by conspicuous irregularities like unprecedented violence, ballot box snatching, threat, rigging, there was even a collusion between security operatives and thugs.
Many people have been saying that APC learnt rigging from PDP, that’s not an excuse. The fact that PDP did doesn’t justify APC doing it.
I’m not in Kogi state to know how governor Yahaya Bello fared or to know how the election went. The last time I went to Kogi state was in 2013 and 2014 was the last time I passed through that axis, even before he became the governor. My concern is the suffering he inflicted on many people, not even the supposed rigging.
I didn’t want him to win the election because, in my opinion, he’s done the worst thing that a governor can do, which is refusing to pay workers. This is that I always frown at, be it in the public or private sector.
You can refuse to employ workers or refuse to increase their salary, you may refuse to construct roads, establish schools or fail to carry out developmental projects but hoarding the salaries of existing workers is the worst of them.
Those workers have family to cater to, how do you expect them to feed their families and provide other needs? Not that there’s no money to pay them, not that you are paying them with your own money, the most annoying thing is that, even the bail out funds that were given to state governors, he still failed to pay workers.
We are happy that state governors who refused to pay salaries have been voted out, Bauchi state is a perfect example but I don’t know why that of Yahaya Bello is different.
Even in Bayelsa state, report has it that the immediate past governor refused to pay workers and wanted to impose somebody that will cover up for him, we are happy that people didn’t vote for the candidate that he imposed.
This should serve as a punishment to any governor who refuse to perform well and most importantly, refused to pay workers but state governors who refused to pay workers are allowed to go for second tenure, they will see non-payment of salaries as a normal thing to do, which is wrong.
I’ve always said it that any party that wants to win an election should bring out the best candidate. It’s true that every political party needs to win an election in order to be relevant but necessary measures should be taken.
If APC wanted to retain Kogi state, it shouldn’t have allowed Yahaya Bello to win its primary election. I feel sorry for Kogi people.
By Bulus Shehu