I Did Not Know 90% Of Those Serving With Me From Day One – Yahaya Bello

Posted by Samson Kankan Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Saturday, October 21st, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The governor of Kogi State Yahaya Bello says he was unaware of 90 percent of the people he employed when he assumed office.

Bello said this during the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign in Anyigba, Lokoja in Kogi on Saturday.

The governor stated that those under his employment were chosen not on the basis of their race, class, or religion but on their abilities to better the lot of the people.

“You will all believe in me that the majority and almost 90 percent of those that are serving with me today, I did not know them from day one. I didn’t select them based on ethnicity, I didn’t select them based on class, and I didn’t select them based on religion,” he said.

“It is based on competence and how you will be able to touch the lives of your people. That was why we were able to raise youths, women across the board that have helped to serve the state up till today.”

The party, he said, believes in competence and that it was important to “bury mediocrity, sectionality”.

“That is why, in everything that concerns the dividends of democracy, we ensure that there is fairness, equity, and justice, and that is the hallmark of our administration,” he added.

Bello continued, saying this enabled his administration to guarantee the fair allocation of appointments and projects throughout the states, including the final palliative that was distributed to different wards.

The governor added that his administration had succeeded in bridging the ethnic and religious divides in government.

“We met a state that was in shambles, a state that was largely divided along ethnic lines, religious lines, and other fault lines. We have been able to close the gap and we have been able to cement all the fault lines,” Governor Bello said.

“Never in our lifetime shall we allow those who do not know what governance means to come and reopen them again. The issue of ethnicity had been buried long before today.”