There will be crisis if my name is not on ballot, Yahaya Bello warns APC amid presidential primaries

Yahaya Bello, Kogi state governor has warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) against excluding his name on the ballot for the scheduled convention to pick the party’s presidential flag bearer for the 2023 election, saying the decision will be a recipe for trouble.

The governor who is also a presidential aspirant under the APC said this on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 after he met behind closed doors with the President in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to him, the APC will retain power at the center only the stakeholders play by the rules.

His statement is coming against a report that the ruling party, particularly, the governors have selected five aspirants out of the twenty three screened aspirants for the ongoing presidential primaries.

The list contained only made up of aspirants from southern part of the country as the party claimed to have settled for southern presidential candidate.

Yahaya Bello who was displeased by the development said the only thing that could make him not contest the presidential primary is only if President Muhammadu Buhari tells him to step down.

“Getting into the arena today, I will win overwhelmingly if the process is credible,” Bello said.

He said there was no need for him to be excluded in the primary, claiming that he represents the youths and the downtrodden.

Bello said that the APC governors of northern extraction did not consult him when they took the resolution that power should shift to the south, adding that the resolution was therefore not bidding on him.

He reiterated his opposition to the concept of the rotational presidency, which he said does not give room for the emergence of a competent individual to emerge.

Meanwhile, voting for the ruling party presidential candidate will begin around 6:00pm today and the winner is expected to be announced by 10:00pm.