Governor of Kogi State and presidential aspirant in the 2023 election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Yahaya Bello, speaks with journalists on insecurity, his political aspiration, the place of the youth in the forthcoming election, among other sundry issues. LINUS ALEKE notes the governor’s responses to salient issues

To say that insecurity at the moment is at its peak is an understatement. What will you be doing differently if you are given the mandate to lead the country?

You recall that Kogi State used to be the hitherto crime capital of this country. Today, the reverse is the case, I faced it frontally, and I refused to politicize insecurity. Let me tell you straight away, take it from me, and I will never mince words. Mr. President is a man who loves truth and reality. He loves somebody who tells him the truth at all times. He is my President, he is my father, he is our leader and at all times I always tell him whatever I observed. I will let you know without mincing a word that Mr President loves this country. No leader, especially at that level, will want his country destroyed. Let me mention a few of his achievements, I am sure we would not have been able to gather here if it were 2014, or 2015 because we would be afraid that the bomb could detonate any moment. It happened severally in Abuja, close to Abuja and in faraway North-East. At a point, even those in Lagos were also afraid that the bomb may detonate one day. I considered using the bulletproof car for the first time after the bomb attack that took place at a plaza in Abuja because that place used to be choked.

That should not happen again. Secondly, this insecurity of a thing is not the thing of Mr. President. Even though we should not pass bulk because that is why he came on board, or we all came on board. It was the successive failure of previous administrations. Let me remind us once again, that certain military and police hardware were non-existent and was last purchased in the administration of President Shehu Shagari, even crash helmets. After the detonation of certain bombs in Ikeja cantonment, did Nigerians ask, whether those arms and ammunition that detonated and led to the death of some people and destroyed property were replaced? They were purchased by certain people, have you ever asked whether they were replaced since then. Now, after the various decrease, the foundation was shaky. Mr President spent a lot of money on buying a lot of these equipment. Boko Haram has been pushed to their enclaves, even though we are still having some of these existential challenges, kidnapping, and all manner of attacks. But let me tell you, I continue to say this, Mr President will not sit in the villa and hold an AK47 to come and guide and secure a primary or secondary school. Mr. President will not sit or come from Villa to come and mount guards on my roads. The question will be, what is he doing as a Commander In Chief? Some of these crimes that we see today are much more than we are looking at it on the surface, once there is laxity on the part of some security officials. When last were police or military trained, their welfare and what have we. It was during President Muhammadu Buhari that allowances and salaries were reviewed so many times, down to even civil service and corps members. It was during President Muhammadu Buhari’s time that those things took place. Let me tell you, I will never come out here and point out the flaws, I will never do that. Whenever I observe any loopholes or lapses, it is between myself and President Buhari, to let him know. I will never be that governor who will come out here and tell you that President Buhari didn’t come and secure my state. He did not come and secure my schools or highways, I will not do that. That is why, as the chief security officer of Kogi state I ensure that I brought the rate of crime from the zenith down to the floor. Mr. President is assisting me to succeed in that area. I am sincere about fighting crime and criminalities. If every one of us as chief executives do our jobs the way we should, Mr President’s job would have been reduced drastically. But you know what? As Commander In Chief by the special grace of God, I will ensure that every Chief Executive of the various security units sit up and do their job. I will not tolerate any lackadaisical attitude or passing of bulk to the centre. I will ensure that the various units are strengthened so that they can take responsibility for whatever happens in their states.

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How will you achieve this?

Technology needs to be deployed, I agree, Mr. President is doing his best to ensure that technologies are deployed.

The majority of these crimes we face today are politically motivated. Especially, the recent one that we are witnessing, the issue of security can never be brought out in the public and discussed in total. Because you will expose your country to danger. Sometimes, the way and manner, the press or the people want the issue of security to be discussed outside, but that cannot be done that way. Sometimes, we may be seeing certain crimes taking place or certain insecurity taking place but what had been averted are in multiple compared to what we see happening out there. No government will come out to tell you when a particularly big man had been called to order. Certain IEDs (improvised explosive device) or plan to attack, destroy, or disrupt society have been foiled or prevented. Such reporting successes and insecurity will frighten the general public. Nobody will even want to come out. In fighting insecurity, there is much work that goes underground, but no responsible government will come out to report to the public. Let us bear that in mind, but I agree with you that a lot needs to be done. As Commander In Chief, I will give responsibility, I will give you a task, I will monitor you, I will supervise you and I will give you credit if you perform and at the same time I will punish you if you fail to do your job. Sometimes, fake news is even insecurity, sometimes we know those that perpetrate some of these insecurities but refuse to report it. Either, because they belong to our religion or ethnic group or otherwise and we refuse to report. If we don’t report, what can we do? In Kogi State, I ensure that every citizen is a law enforcement agent, and they are intelligence agencies unto themselves. The police, the army, and all other law enforcement agents we are using in Kogi state today were not manufactured or imported. We did not import them or bring them from outside to come and secure Kogi state.

They are still the same Nigerian Police, the same Nigerian Army, the same Nigerian Navy, the same DSS or NCSDC. But because we as a people have chosen to live in a peaceful and secure environment, because we in government open our books, we ensure that we brought the government to the people. They own it, and they decided to protect the government and secure themselves. That was why, any crime that takes place in Kogi state, less than 24 hours, we will not just dictate, we will make sure we bring those involved to justice. There are so many things that take place that we don’t have to bring to the table for everyone to know. What is important is, to let our people be secure. Let them live in peace and we will continue to do that. I will tell you that Mr. President like I said is a man that accepts and believe in the truth. Aside from the issue of insecurity which I will not disclose to you, let me tell you one thing that I want to discuss with Mr. President, in the secret, he did not ask me to tell you but I will tell you today. And of course, before I tell you, you should know that it is an open secret, it is not that sacred secret that I cannot tell you. To tell you that Mr. President is not a masquerade to be afraid to tell him the truth, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck before I came out in public to say I don’t want COVID-19 in Kogi State. I sat down with Mr. President and we discussed it. I told Mr. President that this is my belief about COVID-19 and A, B and C will happen if we key into this COVID-19 business and all that happened. Mr. President believed me and urged me to go and secure my state and prevent the pandemic from coming to Kogi State. But that was my immediate responsibility, I returned to Kogi and prevented COVID-19 and its business from coming to Kogi State. Everything I envisioned about COVID-19 happened. So, many mismanagements of resources during the management of the pandemic, and the attendant hardship all came to pass. So, I am letting you know today that Mr President is such a person that welcomes everybody, idea or criticism. We did that, likewise, on the issue of insecurity, I confided in him a lot and that was why Mr President have that strong belief in me.

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At the just concluded APC convention, a lot of aspirants were not happy about the consensus arrangement, if that happens to the party’s presidential candidate and you are not the favoured one, what will you do, what will you tell the teaming youths that have queued behind this your presidential aspiration?

I believe and accept that I chaired the mobilisation of youths, women, and people living with disabilities in our party. Till tomorrow, I am still the ambassador of the younger generation in our party and government. They believe in me and that was why we were able to mobilize over 41 million Nigerians into our party and it is still counting. I am sure you saw what happened last Saturday, on the 2nd of April when we declared publicly, that were just testing the mic. My dear brother, APC is a party to beat, APC is the party that will still produce the next Government after President Muhammadu Buhari. APC will want to win all elections, APC is a strategic party. APC is very strategic, as a party, we must be stable. We must be solid, as a party we need a person that understands the meaning of party evolution and governance in Nigeria. We require such an experience personality, irrespective of where he comes from. Forget about what is put out there about zoning or no zoning. What is important is who that man who will be the leader is? And put the party together. And that quality was found in Senator Abdullahi Adamu. The party will not want anything that is going to disturb any process whatsoever that is going to make him emerge. By the special grace of God, we had a rancour-free convention and we have a solid party today led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu. He happens to come from North Central, so be it, what we want is certain qualities that will help put the party together. If the party is not strongly together to produce the next President, Vice President, Governors, and all other political offices, I will decide to go by sentiment, then we would have been consumed. Today, there would not have been APC. But the wisdom of the leadership of the party under President Muhammadu Buhari, and all of us, the Governors, leaders, and members of the party. We all keyed into that vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that such a quality personality takes charge of the party. That was in line with the constitution of our party, the Electoral Act, and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended. Even though, on the ground of the convention, some contestants decided to pull out or step down. Nobody was forced, nobody was arrested and nobody was compelled. I am sure you have not forgotten so soon about a particular political party whose chairman was forced to resign at gunpoint. That did not happen in APC, and it did not happen on the convention day. To force anybody to step down, because I know how many contestants approached me that they want to step down and they stepped down for one another. And for those who chose to test their popularity at the poll, the election took place, and the results were counted still in the same convention. That is the beauty of democracy. But coming to the Presidential, APC will win the next election. APC is a party that is in search of quality. APC is a party of nothing less than 41 million members and APC is aware of the young man who mobilize over 41 million members into the party. The membership of the party cuts across all the geo-political zones, states, religions, creeds, and backgrounds. APC knows the body language of the nation today, APC is aware that the youths and women are clamouring for that person who is detribalised, who is coming to solve the security challenges we are faced with as a country today. They are aware of that man who is coming to build on the modest achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari. They know who Nigerians are clamouring for and they know who is accepted by the North and South, Muslims and Christians, or even traditionalists.

They know that man who is coming to turn the fortune of this country around. They know that man who can speak the language of the youth and younger generation and they know that man who has performed well in the state within the shortest possible time. If consensus is going to be the option, I don’t think APC will go outside Yahaya Bello. And even if other considerations are put forward, that is direct or indirect, Governor Yahaya Bello is the man to beat. I am confident and I trust God almighty and I trust the judgement of the leadership and members of my great party, the APC. This is the time we must jettison this mundane sentiment of where we come from. Today, we have Igbo people that are living in Kano, yet they are still looked at as Igbo, not Nigerians. If we still see Hausa that lives in Enugu as Hausa people and not Nigerians. We are still looking at ourselves as Muslims and Christians. It is time to bridge that gap and cement that relationship and dwell more on that which unit us more than that which divides us. It has become part of the society in Kogi state, and by the special grace of God, I put myself forward to be that man who is going to champion the new Nigeria where all these sentiments do not matter any longer. I don’t think we should continue to dwell on that which divides us.

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There are so many big names aspiring under the platform of your party for the presidential ticket, where do you fit in considering the political weight of the likes of the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and others?

I believe in capacity, I respect the founding fathers of this great party. Starting from President Muhammadu Buhari, the leader of our party, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, one of the founding fathers of our party, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, and the rest of them. They are founding fathers of our party, they laid a solid foundation for our great party. We cannot have a building without a foundation, at the same time that building will never be completed without it. We are building on the foundation they laid. I have confidence that at the appropriate time, they will cherish what they have started. But interestingly, both North and South bought into it. This is because APC has built a government which, Mr President is heading today. We are now looking for that great man who will build on the legacies of Mr. President, I fit perfectly in that. Also, I know that there are other champions today. But if you want to be a champion, you must get ready to beat a champion. I believe that I will beat every other champion to be the champion. In politics generally, it is a game of numbers, in which the foundation of democracy is laid. I represent the majority, as far as politics and democracy are concerned. That is why the party chose me to mobilise over 41 million members.

So, we the builders of the party appeal to Nigerians to heed our advice and call. We can also see the performance of APC under President Muhammadu Buhari. Sometimes report is different from the reality. Today, we have 41 million members and still counting. We have recorded over 21 million Nigerians with their PVC ready to vote for APC in 2023, the records are there, the statistics are there. These are verifiable facts. The political party that possesses this kind of credentials can never be afraid of going into the contest. We are in this game to restore hope in Nigeria.