The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has said that his decision to intervene in the impasse between Northern food producers and southern buyers saved Nigeria from “bloodbath”.
Recall that the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria had embarked on an indefinite strike over the killing of their members and destruction of their properties in the South-West.
The strike was however called off following the Kogi governor’s intervention.
Bello, who spoke over the weekend, stated that some Northern youths had risen and were preparing for reprisals against the South during the crisis before his intervention doused tensions.
He disclosed that he was not invited to mediate in the crisis but did so out of patriotic zeal for peace and security in Nigeria.
The Kogi governor said that despite getting the support of the presidency, his timely intervention did not sit down well with some powerful people.
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He said that at least one state governor and another individual close to the seat of power disagreed with him.
“It will interest you that after the resolution and taking the report to Mr. President yesterday (Thursday), two uninformed (one of them is my colleague and the second one is an uninformed person but unfortunately in the seat of power or close to the seat of power) challenged me that why I did I resolve the issue.
“Why did I resolve the matter? That I should have allowed it so that whatever belongs to the youths of the South, let it suffer, not minding the resultant effects on the country. This is what we have been facing in Nigeria. I am just telling you one all over 100 million of things I know which you even in Abuja don’t know.
“And this is what is holding us back. So, if we are having such persons as leaders in this country, then we are doomed,” Bello said.
He noted that the northern youths that had mobilised for reprisals were sponsored.
However, he explained that he intervened in the crisis of his own volition.
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“I was not invited by anybody, group or party to broker the peace deal that has saved the country from bloodbath.
“I had to intervene because of the tension that was building up in the North due to the killing of some traders and destruction of their means of livelihood in some Southern states without any intervention by anybody.
“By God’s grace the strike was called off and the supply of food restored by the traders. This country needs peace and stability to survive and nothing should be done to truncate the peace,” Bello stated.