Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has said that the 2019 general election will not be a walkover for the ruling All Progressives Congress.
He said a lot of work needed to be done by all party members if President Muhammadu Buhari must be re-elected for a second term.
Bello said this in his remarks during a dinner Buhari organised in honour of his young supporters at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday night.
The governor noted that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party would not be a pushover and advised the APC members against taking anybody or anything for granted.
He said, “As members of the APC, we will not deny that our party has a huge task before us in the 2019 general election.
“The elections will not be a walkover, the PDP will not be a pushover and we must take nothing and no one for granted.”
Bello said the APC that was going into the 2019 elections was radically different from the APC which won the 2015 presidential election.
“Fair-weather friends who came for the good times have left, disappointed by Mr President’s insistence on personal integrity, fiscal prudence, equality before the law, national security, party discipline, international dignity and a single-minded war on corruption,” he said.
To win the forthcoming elections, Bello said party members must be ready to be telling the story of the present administration from now till when victory would be achieved in 2019.
He added, “The immediate task before us is to convince the masses that everything Mr President has done is for our overall benefit.”
Bello said if the APC members failed to market the present administration well, economic recovery would be mistaken for slow-down due to poor management of the nation’s economy; while measures to protect local industries and stimulate domestic production would be mistaken for the deliberate impoverishment of the populace via high prices of essential commodities.
He added that borrowing for rapid infrastructural development would be mistaken for unwarranted or misapplied debt; while a tough and progressive victory against a terrorist threat which continues to cost the nation the lives of her brave military and law enforcement personnel would be mistaken for inaction.
