…warns parties against fielding Bello.
Kogi East Youth Alliance for Good Governance has warned the All Progressive Congress (APC) and other political parties to beware of fielding Governor Yahaya Bello as he will spell doom for their parties in the November 2, 2019 governorship election.
The group debunked the claim credited to the Ohinoyi of Ebira Land, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim that the Igalas have hijacked Governor Yahaya Bello to their advantage in the governance of the state.
The group in a statement signed by its President, Mr. Desmond Anawo described the purported claim as not only an open indictment of the Igalas but frivolous, unfounded and misleading.
The president noted that such a statement from a highly respected monarch would amount to sowing seed of discord and fanning the embers of disunity between the Igalas and Ebiras.
“The claim of the Ohinoyi is a complete falsehood in its entirety capable of sending wrong signal to the outside world,” he said.
The statement also observed that before the present political misadventure which has polarized the people along partisan lines, the Igalas and Ebiras have a long standing history of peaceful coexistence, adding that the Igalas and Ebiras have a proven and cherished history of common ancestral ties and affinity that should not be strained by anybody no matter how highly placed.
Anawo further noted that as it is now in the state, “if it is true that the Igalas have hijacked Governor Bello’s administration, why is that there is no responsible illustrious sons and daughters of Igala extraction in the cabinet of the present government, but touts?”
He lamented that it is unfortunate that the Igalas are being made to play the second fiddle under the current dispensation pointing out that going by the 1963 census the Igalas are the 9th largest ethnic group in Nigeria, with a dominant population of 56% of the entire population of Kogi state.
He berated Governor Bello’s administration for being sectionalist and tribalistic in appointment of his own tribe’s men into strategic and sensitive positions leaving out the Igalas who are supposed to be the major beneficiary in the allocation of appointments.
According to him: “The pains the Igalas suffered during the unending screening exercise in which 75% of the Igalas on state and local government employment were relieved of their appointments was, and still unbearable.
“To the people of the state, fielding Governor Yahaya Bello in the next Kogi gubernatorial election will spell doom for any party that make him their candidate as the entire Igalas have already rejected Bello.”
While calling on the federal government to intervene in the worsening security situation in Kogi East by mopping up arms allegedly given to thugs for the elections, the group appealed to Kogi state government to pay workers their accumulated salaries.
