By Paul Effiong, Abuja
Former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello and the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila have called on the National Leader of the Action Democratic Congress, ADC, and member representing Yagba Federal Constituency of Kogi State, Leke Abejide not to give up on his fight for democracy and the stability of his party.
They made the call in their separate goodwill messages at a dinner in honour of his wife, Deaconess Esther Abejide on her 50th birthday celebration held in Abuja, recently.
In his address, the former governor of Kogi State described Abejide as a committed democrat who pursues his political dreams to the end.
He said, “Abejide sought to be a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, then, and there were some mathematical miscalculations. But that never stopped him. He came the second time and he is performing and touching lives across board.
“He is acting as if he was the governor. At a point I was like, do you want to overthrow me? Abigide sought to become the governor of Kogi State. He contested keenly with my amiable and wonderful successor. I know how many times our brother, the chief of staff, the president, intervened, called me and several meetings were held. And I maintained one thing. I said, look, this is my brother. I will never deceive him. The politics of Kogi State, nobody knows it better than I do at this stage. Let him just try his luck and learn and wait for the appropriate time.
“Abejide did not lose. He only came to learn the act of politicking, especially for governorship at that level in Kogi State. He did not hesitate to support the governor immediately after the election. He was under serious pressure to go to court. He was the first person who said he was not going to challenge it. Rather, he collapsed his structures and supported him.
At the National Assembly level, despite that he belongs to ADC, he is supporting our president actively, both physically and covertly. Abejide, we thank you for your performance. Mr Chief of Staff, tell Mr President that we appreciate him. Myself and my governor, we have conferred with each other. We are calling on Chief Abejide and telling the people from Yagba Federal Constituency that are here, please take this message home, that we want him back in the APC.
Similarly, the Chief of Staff to the President and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gbajabiamila commended Abejide for his doggedness which he said kept him on track in his democratic journey and winning elections on a platform which he kept alive and running for long.
He said, “I keep saying to people when I talk about him, that for a man to contest an election in a face-to-face state where elections are fierce, and to contest under a platform of a relatively unknown party, ADC, and to win back-to-back-to-back, it tells you who that man is. Four years later, he went back to Kogi. He brought somebody else from the ADC.”
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