…Says 10 LGAs in Kogi sacked by flood
…As APC receives decampees from PDP, ADC, ADP, SDP
ABUJA- KOGI State Governor, Alhaji Yahaha Bello on Monday boasted that President Muhammadu Buhari who will fly the flag of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2019 Presidential election will get overwhelming votes that will double the votes he got in 2015 election.
President Buhari and Gov. Yahaya Bello
The governor also said that about ten local government areas of Kogi State have been sacked by the ravaging flood which has forced the government to set up nine Internally Displaced camps for the displaced persons.
Governor Bello disclosed this after meeting behind closed doors with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Bello said he was at the State House to brief the President on the flood situation in the state as well as the security situation.
He commended the Federal Government for her intervention but lamented that the level of disaster was much that required more relief materials from the government.
According to him, “As usual I came to brief Mr. President on situation report and the happenings in my state periodically. I am sure you are all aware of the flood problem that is happening all over the country and Kogi is worst hit being the confluence state, confluence of the two rivers.
“So, we are worst hit and I needed to come and present the report to him myself. Even though I sincerely appreciate Mr President for deploying relevant agencies like NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) and all the security agencies to come to our aid.
“As I speak to you, NEMA is on their way to Lokoja to access the level of damage and we received substantial amount of relief materials so far, it is not enough. I need to present the report to him as well and also to tell him about the security of the state and how we are doing.
“We are doing very well and I thank all the security agencies who have been assisting us to make sure we curb insecurity in the state. Do these are the issues that brought me to come and explain to Mr. President.”
On his efforts to tackle the flood disaster, he said, “We experience this periodically. 2012, we were worst hit, we are praying that the situation will not exceed that this year.
“We are normally proactive to sensitize the people and evacuate them to high ground. We have created over 33 camps in Kogi State. As I speak with you, between nine to ten local governments are under water, you can imagine the pressure on our resources.
“So, we are doing our best in collaboration with federal agencies and security agencies to make sure that we evacuate them to high grounds, IDP camps and provide security to them and relief materials including medicals.”
Commenting on the 2019 election and the chances of President Buhari and the APC, he said the party will have overwhelming victory in the elections.
He said, “This is the era where a lot of hopes even if it is false. People build their castle in the air. You can see that Mr. President is good to go. I want to assure Nigerians that the vote for Mr. President in 2019 is going to double that of 2015.
“In my own state, I can assure you, take my words, we are going to have all the twenty five House of Assembly members, all the nine House of Representatives members and all the three Senators for APC in this 2019 election.
“We did it in all other states and in my state you can see in the last by-election the gap when the election was conducted in 2015 between the APC winner and the PDP was just about 7,000, but in this last by-election, we doubled the gap, so that is an indication.
“Two, by my style of leadership in Kogi State, we met Kogi State House of Assembly, APC in minority, we have overwhelming majority today, we have less than 85,000 registered in Kogi State for APC, as at today we have over a million membership in the state.
“Yesterday (Sunday) we had a decamping rally where SDP state chapter collapsed, ADP, ADC, PDP majority of them including Kwamkwasiya, they burnt their cap yesterday, they drove away the SDP horse yesterday. So that is the movement and it is across the nation not only in Kogi state.”
Reminded that in Facebook it was said the President will be defeated in 2019 polls, Bello said, “I think there is a polling unit in the Facebook, so they cast their votes in the Facebook. On ground I can assure you of total victory.”