Gov. Bello defied Buhari, Tinubu’s peace moves – Melaye’s aide

The senior legislative aide to Senator Dino Melaye, Abubakar Sodiq, says Kogi governor Yahaya Bello formed a parallel All Progressives Congress (APC) state exco in disrespect of peace moves of national leaders.

President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed a former governor of Lagos state, Bola Tinubu as head of the party’s reconciliation committee.

Recall that the faction loyal to Bello last Friday announced expulsion of the Hady Ametuo led Kogi state executive council.

But reacting the next day, APC in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, declared the sack of the officials null and void.

In a chat with the Punch, Sodiq warned that the ongoing crisis may consume the party.

“National chairman of the party (Oyegun) was here to attend a rally. Shortly after he left, they (Bello’s loyalists) inaugurated a parallel executive in the state.

“Mr. President has inaugurated a committee to reconcile all factions; that committee, under the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has swung into action, going from one state to the other to make sure that those who are really aggrieved are pacified.

“He has not visited Kogi. Why should the governor constitute a parallel executive of the party?

“Across the 36 states of the federation, no state executive has been dissolved. It is only at the party’s congress that the executive can be dissolved and replaced.

“We must not allow those who do not have the interest of the party at heart to hijack it because it will not help matters. We have not exhausted all the means of resolving this crisis.

“I have no doubt in the ability of our great leader (Tinubu). You can see from one or two places he has visited that he actually wanted the party to be one.

“No one will build a house and allow the house to collapse. He was the brains behind the merger and I am very optimistic about his capability to restore peace in the party.

“They (Bello’s camp) should embrace genuine reconciliation. If the party will emerge victorious in any election, we need everybody.

“We are confronting a formidable opposition party and I don’t know how we can make it without genuinely reconciling all factions.”