GOVERNOR Yahaya Bello has cleared the controversy on his relationship with the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the November 11 election, Usman Ododo, saying they are not cousins.
According to the governor, contrary to the propaganda by the opposition political parties in the state, he has no blood relationship with the candidate who, he said, emerged based on merit, through a keenly contested, free and fair election.
He also said that since ethnic sentiments had set the state back for 19 years, “we must break away from that for competence.”
Bello made the clarification at the third edition of the ‘Governor Yahaya Bello Seminar for Political and Crime Correspondents/Editors’ in Abuja, with the theme, ‘Fight against insecurity: Achieving results in a challenging environment: The Kogi example.’
Bello said, “Ododo has endeared himself to the people of Kogi. How can you be the most popular candidate, positioned to win and still instigate violence?
“Ododo and I may come from the same place but we do not share any blood relationship whatsoever. Do your findings. He is a very compassionate, hardworking and competent fellow, and those qualities spoke for him at the primaries.”
He explained that part of his administration’s focus was to do away with ethnic sentiments that had set the state backwards before his emergence.
“Ethnic sentiments set Kogi back for 19 years and we must break away from that for competence. My administration has changed the narrative of ethnicity and has been appointing and working with competent people as against choosing people from tribes in the state.
“We raise people from different backgrounds, irrespective of their senatorial zones,” Bello added.
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