By Thompson Yamput
Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has urged members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Council to base their campaign on issues and the performance of the current administration.
Bello stated this during the inauguration of the council at the Government House, Lokoja, on Tuesday.
“Don’t preach ethnicity or religion but base your campaign on what the government has achieved in the last eight years and the ability of the governorship candidate, Usman Ododo, to build effectively on the current administration’s successes.
“Again, I urge all members and supporters of our great party not to join issues with others who do not have anything to offer in terms of adding value to the state and its inhabitants.
“Forget about liars, whose stock-in-trade is thuggery, with nothing to offer.
“Go out there and preach what we have on ground in terms of infrastructure, not about ethnicity.
“Kogi State belongs to all of us. I have always said that the state has the potential to be great if only we can stop playing politics of ethnicity.
“I want all of you to go and work for the success of the party and you will be adequately rewarded,” the governor said.
Prince Shaibu Abubakar-Audu, Director-General of the campaign council and Minister of Steel Development, urged Igala people to shun any ethnic agenda that would not bring about development in the state.
Abubakar-Audu said that his late father and former governor of the state had never believed in ethnic agenda, but had vision for the growth and development of the state.
He noted that in the last eight years, Bello had demonstrated his father’s vision for the state through appointments, distribution and execution of projects across the three senatorial districts without any iota of bias or sentiment.
“My father had a pan-Kogi vision and was never a leader who focused on only Kogi East.
“Any agenda that focuses on a particular senatorial district instead of Kogi State will not bring about justice, equity and development.
“We know that Igala people are agitating for return of power to the East but it must be discussed and resolved, because power can never be taken with force,” he said. (NAN)
