Despite Being A Sitting Governor, Yahaya Bello Didn’t Get The Votes Of 63 Delegates From Kogi State

As at the time Governor Yahaya Bello insisted he would not step down his presidential aspiration for any aspirant, many Nigerians believed he had already got the votes of all the Kogi delegates in his bag.

Bello, one of the 14 aspirants who went into the contest did not seem to measure up with the expectations of many observers. He was one of the aspirants who was believed to have had what it takes to square up with the likes of Bola Tinubu, Yemi Osinbajo and Rotimi Amaechi who were the leading aspirants in the contest.

Not only because he is a sitting governor but because of his regional consideration. He is the only APC presidential Aspirants from the north central. Hence, he was expected to garnered reasonable votes from that region.
 In the same vein, he was the only aspirant whose declaration of presidential interest shook the country to its foundation. 

Bello assembled an intimidating and impenetrable crowd of supporters at the Eagles Square on the day of his declaration of interest to reinterated his readiness to wrestle the party’s ticket from the big boys.

Since he made his intention known, he has been a constant political figure in the party and public. His songs were always sung both on TV, Radio and the social media.

As  a matter of fact, many Nigerians have begun to see him as a favourite candidate for the ticket. Kogi State has 63 Delegates cleared and confirmed to cast their votes for aspirant of their choice.

Ordinarily, one would think these delegates are incontestible with Yahaya Bello who is not only a sitting APC governor but also the leader of the party in the state.

Everyone seems to be wrong with that assertion. The governor could not secure their entire votes. He managed to curry in 47 votes out of the 63 delegates from his state.

Perhaps, parts of the 47 votes he got were from other states. And if his total votes were actually from his state delegates, what happened to the remaining 16 votes from his delegates that were not part of his total votes.

Something must be wrong somewhere. Yahaya Bello apparently didn’t get it right from the home front before hitting the Eagle Square to expect a victory from APC presidential primary. 

His loss didn’t just happen at the venue. It started from the state through some of his delegates.