Governor Yahaya Bello on Monday dismissed the Anap poll which favoured Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi, maintaining that online agitation is different from grassroots mobilisation.
BASIC FACTS
- Yahaya Bello has dismissed the opinion poll that favoured Peter Obi as the winner of the February presidential election.
- The Kogi state governor says grassroots mobilization is different from online agitation.
- The governor says he was once disadvantaged by an opinion poll, yet he won the governorship position for his state.
WHAT WE KNOW
The Kogi state APC Governor, Yahaya Bello has dismissed the opinion poll conducted by NOI/ANAP which favoured Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi as the winner of the February presidential election.
The poll result, released last week, indicated that the former Anambra governor is leading the race, way ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Atiku Abubakar and the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer Bola Tinubu.
However, Yahaya Bello, an APC chieftain and Governor of Kogi state, admitted that while Obi is doing great, the LP candidate’s support base is online, a development he says does not translate to grassroots mobilisation.
Yahaya Bello who contested the APC June 7 and 8th presidential primary election, but lost to former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, acknowledged his respect for Peter Obi, but insisting he is not grounded for the political battle.
The governor recalled that prior to his re-election in 2019, several polls conducted in the north-central state projected his failure in the exercise.
He also dismissed claims that Obi has the backing of Nigerian youths going into next year’s poll.
NOTABLE QUOTES
Speaking in a local Television Station in Lagos, the Kogi state Governor said, “Peter Obi – I respect him. A gentleman, one-time governor; a businessman who everyone knows has engaged in several businesses including the importation of the majority of the products we consume today in the country,”
“He is doing well in his own right but let me tell you: online agitation is different from grassroots movements and mobilisation.”
On an opinion poll conducted before the 2019 election that favoured him, he said,
“I simply laughed because they are not on the ground. They fly in the sky. They don’t move by the road,”
“They don’t have a connection at all with the people. I knew exactly what I had put on the ground and the connectivity I had on the ground and I won the election like never before in the history of Kogi State.”
On Peter Obi’s popularity with the youth, Yahaya Bello said, “Well, during the contest before the presidential primaries of all political parties, the only person that commands the respect and control of Nigerian youths is Governor Yahaya Bello,”
CATCH UP
Recall that last week, an opinion poll conducted by NOI/ANAP showed Peter Obi as the leading candidate with prospect for winning the February presidential election.
The poll puts the Labour Party candidate ahead of others with 21% of the poll, while APC and PDP candidates came a distant 2nd in the poll with 13% poll while the NNPP candidate got 3% in the pool.
The APC and PDP campaign organisations have since kicked against the poll, dismissing it as unreliable.
TAKEAWAY
Despite the rising popularity of Labour Party Presidential candidate Peter Obi, the various 1 million man march organized, the likes of Yahaya Bello still prefers to live in denial of his acceptance by Nigerian electorates.
The question the establishment need to understand is that those on social media are normal everyday people we find in the streets and our homes everyday.
Yeah, if people remain on social media, ranting and whining without taking real time action like participation and participating in the electoral process, their agitation may not mean much, except for the influence it makes.
However, if social media activism leads to participation as we saw in the voters registration and ENDSARS, then social media no doubt is a tool for mobilization.
It is important that the likes of Yahaya Bello comes to terms with the reality of the popularity and acceptability of Peter Obi.
Otherwise, they will not only be shocked by the possible outcome of a new and emerging world but will definitely loose the opportunity to take advantage of this new mobilization mechanism
