By Oyibo Salihu
Lokoja
Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has reiterated his call on Nigerians to re-elect President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, saying his re-election “is in the best interest of Nigerians.”
Bello, who stated this through a statement issued by his Director-General on Media and Publicity, Kingsley Fanwo, in Lokoja yesterday, added that “the nation is witnessing progress under the APC-led federal government.”
According to him, it is taking a lot of efforts to “rescue the nation from the deep pit of economic mess” in which previous administrations put it.
The statement read in part: “We were all here during the previous administration and we saw what our nation went through. Revelations in courts and from anti-graft agencies have shown us how bad the nation was exposed to economic woes.
“President Muhammadu Buhari came and has continued to do his best to sanitise the nation and re-launch it on the map of international reckoning.
“It takes more time to rebuild than to destroy. For our president to have achieved this much is magical and commendable. In the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari should continue to lead our nation beyond 2019.”
Bello said those opposed to the re-election of President Buhari were only “exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression,” adding that “they are not necessarily speaking the minds of millions of Nigerians who were at the receiving end of bad governance, corruption and terrorism before the rescue mission of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
“Anybody is free to form associations to pursue interests, provided the associations are not injurious to the laws of the nation. Anyone is free to air his or her views. That remains one of the beautiful gains of our Government of Change.
“In the recent past, airing such views even within the space of our democratic dispensation was considered an affront on the nation. Today, fundamental rights are freely exercised.
“However, Nigerians have continued to show their solidarity with the President. He will easily win again in 2019.”
He called for prayers for Nigerians to continue to live in peace and harmony.
