“Only Looters Are Not Happy With Buhari” – Governor Bello Tells Catholic Bishops

GOVERNOR Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has told the Catholic Bishops that it was only those that looted the nation’s treasury and those that carried the country’s money with Jet to South Africa that were angry with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The governor also said that some religious leaders were angry because avenues to loot money and take to the Churches and Mosques have been blocked by the Buhari’s government.

The Kogi State governor also told State House correspondents in an interview after the juma’at service at the State House mosque, Presidential Villa Abuja, that the recent alteration of election time table by the two chambers of the National Assembly, will help to determine the popularity of the lawmakers.
He contended that some of the lawmakers at the national assembly rose on the back of the popularity of President Buhari to win election in 2015, adding that the adjustment of the time table will help to weed out the “bad” members among them.

He also said that he believed in the ability of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to reconcile all aggrieved party members based on the new assignment given to him by the President.

On Tinubu’s committee, he said, “Of course. Whatever Mr. President believes in, his judgement and his wisdom I believe in him. And I believe in his ability to bring all party members together.”

Commenting on the rearrangement of the election time table, Bello said, “I so much appreciate this. I think if you observe critically what happened in the last election where Mr. President was elected along with other members of National Assembly.

“Then, we called it Buhari Tsunami, where the good, the bad and the ugly were all put together and elected. It is either going to be in their interest that the Buhari Tsunami will return them or everybody will be on his or her own.

“Let Buhari return and let Nigerians select the good ones out of the bad ones to return to the National Assembly. Which ever order it comes in this upcoming general elections, I can assure you that Mr. President will win landslide and the good ones will return to the National Assembly.”

When asked whether the lawmakers will be the losers of the proposed table time, he said that the unpopular ones among them will be the ultimate losers.

He said, “They have the choice to make and they have made their choice that the good will of Mr. President should not rob on the bad ones. Surely, the good ones on their own account will return to the National Assembly at the appropriate time.”

Commenting also on the submissions of the Catholic Bishops under the umbrella of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, in the meeting with the President on Thursday where the Bishops told the President that Nigerians were angry as a result of alleged bad governance and imbalance in the system, the governor said it was those who had looted the country’s funds that were angry because sources of their free money had been blocked by the government.

He said, “Yes. I followed it (the Bishops meting) keenly and one of the key statement there was that Nigerians are angry. Yes, it is very true that Nigerians are angry but the question is who are this category of Nigerians who are angry?

“The category of Nigerians that are angry are those who used private jets to cart away Nigeria’s money in dollars out of the country to South Africa. I’m sure you are away that our money is still locked down there, such money if you bring it into the economy, a lot of youths that are unemployed will surely be employed.

“And of course those that have looted the country dry and normally go to the church and mosque to pay tithe are no longing doing so, of course we these are the category of people that are angry.

“If you look at it critically, the farmers, those with real jobs are happy because the economy is improving. In no time we have come out of recession, our foreign reserve is increasing, no more bombing in Sambisa, no more bombing in the country, no more bombing in Embab plaza even as close as Abuja, no more bombing in Suleja and all over the country.

I think those that are benefiting from these crimes and criminality will be angry and they are Nigerians. So it is important to define the category of people who are angry.

“I want to urge Nigerians to continue to appreciate Mr. President, pray for him so that the good work he has started he will complete it, so that Nigeria will be not of the woods.”

On his plan to sell some important assets of the state and the criticisms that have trailed the plan, Bello said, “Well, to them you call it important but to us it is not important. It is not important because they are tying down the capital and good money of state that would have been used for other developmental projects.

“You don’t have an important project that is not adding values whatsoever to the lives of the people of Kogi State. And such projects can be converted and used to solve the problems that you are confronted with today. We are in deficit of road infrastructure, schools are in shambles, hospitals and the rest of them.

“So, why keeping an asset that is not yielding anything value all in the name of this is Kogi asset instead of use it for what will benefit the people more and add value to the system.

“You see, this is politics playing but we will not be deterred by some uninformed so called elites that are here in Abuja making noise. Let them come to Kogi State and compare two years of my stewardship with previous administration, then they will know that they are completely off the track. I think the people of Kogi State are with me and appreciate the much we are doing.”