Yahya Bello: Nigeria will be safe when politicians stop using thugs

Nigeria will be a safe place to live when politicians stop the use of thugs and criminals during elections, Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has said.

The governor said this on Wednesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

He added that thugs, who were used and dumped by politicians during elections, later turned out to be “hydra-headed monster” and criminal elements now terrrorising Nigerians.

“When politicians begin to stop the use of thugs, touts or some group of criminals, that is when we will begin to have safety and security in our land,” he said.

Bello also said contrary to the general perception, he won the November 16, 2019 governorship poll without the use of thugs.

The governor, who was re-elected last year on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, said political thuggery was the norm in Kogi before he came into power but he “refused to play that kind of dangerous or unnecessary politics” when he came on board as governor of the North-Central state.

He said, “When I came on board, I inherited a state that was largely divided along several lines. For you to aspire to be anything politically in Kogi State then, you must have what we call ‘boys’ or thugs or touts and then use it to intimidate people during political dispensations.

“Once the political exercise is over, the so-called boys or thugs or foot soldiers would be abandoned and then left to themselves and by that, they breed into something else or a hydra-headed monster that you will not be able to curb at the end of the day. There are several history and intelligence to that across the country.

“But I refused to play that kind of dangerous or unnecessary politics when I came on board. My ascension to office is known to everybody in the world. I chose my path immediately and decided to deal with criminals irrespective of political affiliations by using the laws passed by the Kogi State House of Assembly and the existing security architecture.”