The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has reacted to Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, being absent from rallies and town hall meetings for the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu had appointed Bello as the National Youth Coordinator of the PCC on September 18.
The appointment, which was officially conveyed in a letter that carried the signature of the APC candidate, stated that the governor was chosen because of his impressive political achievements and exemplary leadership.
Tinubu also expressed strong conviction that Bello would conduct an effective, message-driven campaign that could lead them to victory in the 2023 presidential election.
But three months after he was appointed, the youngest governor in the country has failed to turn up in any of Tinubu’s rallies and town hall meetings.
This has forced critics and some aggrieved loyalists of the presidential candidate to conclude that the governor may prove to be a bad apple in the cart if his lukewarm attitude to Tinubu’s campaign is anything to go.
“We understand that he was appointed as national youth coordinator to help galvanise support for Tinubu in Kogi and other states in the North-Central region. But what we have been seeing from him so far is unimpressive.
“He only goes about calling himself ‘White Lion’ but not participating in all the rallies. Even that young Seyi Tinubu has done more than him in terms of youth mobilisation in the last two months. He has not justified his inclusion in the PCC at all,” an APC member told our reporter.
Keyamo reacts
When asked for reaction, chief spokesman for the APC PCC, Festus Keyamo, dismissed the report, saying that it was obvious many people did not understand the effort Bello had put into the campaign.
According to him, the governor’s absence from most of the rallies did not connote apathy.
He said, “I spoke with Yahaya Bello yesterday and I can say he is one of the best strategic planners we have. With what he has set now, by the time he explodes, Nigerians will know.
“You know he heads a very strategic department and he is more than ready for the campaign 100 per cent.”
