Why Yahaya Bello Is In A State Of ‘’Panic’’, Dino Melaye Confident As Nov 16 Kogi Election Nears

Charles Oyelesi

Fresh information available to societynow.ng revealed that re-election seeking governor Yahaya Belo is in a state of panic as the November 16 Kogi Gubernatorial election nears.

And the reason for this is simple, the Independent Electoral Commission’s move to stage the Senatorial election involving Dino Melaye and the gubernatorial election on the same date has further unified the People’s Democratic Party.

The People’s Democratic Party with Musa Wada as the governorship candidate is the greatest threat to Bello’s re-election.

Smarting from the inability to become the Gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Kogi state, Melaye who turned down the offer to be the Campaign Director of Wada opted to do ‘’his thing alone’’ to deny the party his political strength societynow.ng gathered.

Melaye’s posture which weakened the influence of the PDP. created the ‘’perfect’’ advantage for re-election seeking arch-enemy Bello to exploit societynow.ng learned.

‘’The gubernatorial election was meant to come first and with Melaye’s posture which was aimed to make his party suffer from half-hearted support, Bello’s chances of winning the election was buoyed and he was already making plans to throw everything against Melaye after securing re-election but all that permutation is changed and the table turned on the Governor with fresh developments’’ an insider disclosed.

Societynow.ng gathered that the INEC’s decision to hold the Senatorial and gubernatorial election on the same day – November 16 – has forced Melaye to close ranks with his party.

‘’And this does not bode well for Bello. Melaye is the political king of Kogi West. He is excessively loved in that Senatorial district, he is loved far and over Smart Adeyemi the candidate of Bello’s party in the ruling All Progressives Congress. A testament of this is the disgrace Bello suffered in the attempt to recall Melaye and the fact that Melaye has gotten the better of Adeyemi in all Senatorial election between them. And those in the know claimed based on the current rating on the street, visible projects undertaken and impacts on the lives of the people on personal levels…Melaye looks about to triumph Adeyemi again’’ societynow.ng learned.

And this taking into consideration the fact that Melaye’s popularity will be aided by supports from other heavyweights in his – newly unified – party.

And this is unlike Bello who relies on the power of incumbency to gloss over the raging conflicts within his party over his emergence as the gubernatorial candidate.

According to revelations available, the implication of this is that Bello also looks about to suffer a bloody nose in Melaye’s domain, with the strong possibility of a spillover of the victory into other areas.

Insiders disclosed that the PDP is operating on this premise and forging stronger bonds as they engage on aggressive campaigns that highlight the inefficiencies of Bello’s four years of alleged non-performance and why he should be denied a second term in office.

The development is said to be giving Bello’s team a hard time, especially as the PDP lures his aggrieved party men with promises of ‘’better treatment’’ if they win the election. ‘’The most telling factor is that the powerful political families in the state have roots in PDP or are sympathetic to the PDP cause and it is becoming more open by the day’’ a source stated