The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in Kogi State has called on Governor Yahaya Bello to resign for registering twice for permanent voter card.
A Senator, Dino Melaye, made the call on behalf of the party at a news briefing in Abuja on Friday.
The chairman of the APC in Kogi, Hadi Ametuo, agreed with Mr. Melaye, adding that it was the position of the party.
Mr. Melaye said the people of Kogi State and the party were dissociating themselves from the act and called on Mr. Bello to resign immediately or risk impeachment.
“This executive recklessness and impunity is what we are reacting to.
“We are saying that as stakeholders in Kogi politics and the All Progressives Congress (APC), we condemn in its entirety the fraudulent behaviour of Yahaya Bello, the executive governor of Kogi State.
“This criminal behaviour has embarrassed the people of Kogi state and the APC. We dissociate ourselves from this criminal behaviour.
“Kogi people are responsible people and we expect to have a responsible governor. As at the time he was contesting that election, it showed that he was not a registered voter in Kogi state.
“Since he knew he was not registered in the state, why did he in the first place accept the candidacy of the party?
“So, on this note, we are calling immediately for the resignation of the governor because a criminal awaiting trial cannot be representing the people of Kogi state as governor.
“If he has integrity, he should honourably resign and if the governor refuses to resign, we are going to mobilise our members in the House of Assembly to start an impeachment process against him.
“We will do this because we have a valid point as expressed by INEC,’’ he said.
Mr. Melaye further said that besides the move for impeachment, Kogi citizens would be mobilised to stage peaceful protest in strategic locations across the country should he refuse to resign.
He said the people would be mobilised to INEC’s head office, the national secretariat of APC and strategic locations in Lokoja to protest, adding that power belonged to the people.
The lawmaker emphasised that the governor’s action was an embarrassment to the state and the party.
“He has disgraced the party we are so proud of; he has disgraced the people of Kogi state enough by not paying salaries.
“Our people are dying. This 419 entrant into government should cease and we are going to follow it to the letter.
“This will give the APC electoral deficit in 2019 if we did not separate Yahaya Bello from the APC.
“We will not allow him to destroy this platform because it is still useful to many of us because we want to use it in 2019.
